Our experts answer questions about conflicts between coding guidelines and payer requirements, documentation requirements for psychiatric assessments, and more.
In the 2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule, CMS put a stamp of approval on its previous proposals to overhaul how medical practices will report office and outpatient E/M services in 2021.
CPT reporting for surgical heart procedures requires an in-depth understanding of cardiovascular anatomy and terminology. This article reviews CPT reporting for procedures involving cardiac pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators based on key details in provider documentation.
According to ACDIS’ recent CDI Week Industry Survey , which included an extended section on CDI staffing practices, only 37% of respondents said they had HIM/coding backgrounds represented in their CDI departments.
Very few diagnoses have caused as much gnashing of teeth as sepsis has for inpatient coders and providers alike. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has weighed in on the matter and is proposing coding changes , which, if adopted, will go into effect October 2020.
Let’s take a deep dive into the recently released coding guidance and documentation tips for these illnesses. Note that since vaping-related guidance and statistics are ever changing, this information is up to date as of October 2019.
Rachelle Musselman, BSN, RN; Jorde Spitler, BSN, RN; Daniel Lantis, BSN, RN; Joseph E. Ross, MD; and Thomas A. Taghon, DO, MHA, review their experience with implementing pediatric heart failure criteria at Dayton Children’s Hospital.
Brett Hoggard, MD, writes that the healthcare industry continues to transition toward a value-based, pay-for-performance system, but there’s still confusion surrounding different quality and value programs.
Since the implementation of ICD-10-CM/PCS, thousands of additional codes have been added to clarify aspects of certain conditions or procedures. This, on top of yearly code updates, has had a large impact on coder productivity. In this article, let’s take a look at some recent productivity statistics gathered by First Class Solutions Inc. Note : To access this free article, make sure you first register here if you do not have a paid subscription.
High-risk general surgery patients have greater survival rates at major teaching hospitals than at non-teaching hospitals, according to a study published by the Annals of Surgery.
Q: Physicians at our hospital use the terms bacteremia and sepsis interchangeably despite each having distinct ICD-10-CM codes. How should we address this issue, and what should we do when we need to query?
CPT reporting for surgical heart procedures requires an in-depth understanding of cardiovascular anatomy and terminology. This article reviews CPT reporting for procedures involving cardiac pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators based on key details in provider documentation. Note : To access this free article, make sure you first register here if you do not have a paid subscription.
In the 2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule, CMS increased the performance threshold for Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) eligible providers and finalized its proposal to implement the MIPS Value Pathways (MVP) framework in calendar year 2021.
Q: A patient presents for routine obstetrical (OB) care following a vaginal delivery. During the visit, the provider performs a postpartum depression screening. Should the depression screening be charged separately from the global OB visit service?
Review finalized changes to relative value units for office visits, new HCPCS codes for chronic care management and opioid treatment services, and future updates to the E/M reporting guidelines.
Peggy S. Blue, MPH, CCS, CCS-P, CPC, CEMC , reviews the appropriate application of 14 new HCPCS codes that will allow opioid treatment programs to report medication-assisted treatments beginning January 1, 2020.
Julian Everett, RN, BSN, CDIP, writes that early recognition of sepsis in pediatric patients, along with accurate reporting, is vital to the future of healthcare. With the goal of improving patient outcomes through documentation, Everett outlines her experience in providing documentation education to physicians.
CMS recently published an update to the fiscal year (FY) 2020 IPPS final rule. This update corrects certain technical and typographical errors and contains corrections to the final payment factors. In this article, Judith Kares, JD , gives a summary of these key updates and related guidance.
