Organizations looking for real-world examples of ICD-10 education can check out the plan created by Ginger Boyle, MD, of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System in South Carolina.
If you’re worried about getting your physicians trained for ICD-10, you’re not alone. Thea Campbell, MBA, RHIA, Melanie Endicott, MBA/HCM, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, Donna Smith, RHIA, and Sue Belley , MEd, RHIA, CPHQ, offer tips and strategies to educate physicians about the new code sets.
External cause codes in ICD-10-CM are intended to provide data for injury research and evaluation of injury prevention strategies. Some are humorous and some are confusing. Rhonda Buckholtz, CPC, CPMA, CPC-I, CGSC, COBGC, CPEDC, CENTC, explains how and when to use these codes.
Black Friday marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season—and the holiday injury season at Fix ‘Em Up Clinic. Patients started showing up shortly after the stores opened this morning with...
Over the river and through the woods to the Fix ‘Em Up Clinic we go. Not exactly where our patients want to spend Thanksgiving (and neither do we), but we’re here to coding their holiday mishaps...
Do you find yourself wondering how you will ever learn everything to be ready for the ICD-10-CM/PCS compliance deadline? Does it feel overwhelming with how busy you are? The answer: Keep Calm and...
Hospitals are overturning Recovery Auditor denials nearly 75% of the time, according to recent RACTrac data. That’s why the American Hospital Association adamantly supports a new proposed bill—the Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2012 —aimed at holding Recovery Auditors accountable for inappropriate denials.
Maternal fetal medicine procedures highlight the differences between ICD-9-CM procedure codes and ICD-10-PCS codes and can serve as a foundation for understanding ICD-10-PCS. Lori-Lynne A. Webb, CPC, CCS-P, CCP, CHDA, COBGC, demonstrates how coding for fetal thoracentesis will change after the switch to ICD-10.
Q: Should we query for the specific pulmonary exacerbation of cystic fibrosis (CF)? Coding Clinic states that the exacerbation of CF should be listed first.
Every few years, the AHA publishes guidance in Coding Clinic that can significantly affect inpatient coders, such as guidance published in the Second Quarter 2012 on neoplasm coding. Randy Wagner, BSN, RN, CCS, and Paul Dickson, MD, CCS, CPC, review the new guidance and how to use the TNM cancer staging system.
So many coding topics to audit, yet so few staff members to perform those audits. Julie Daube, BS, RHIT, CCS, CCS-P, reveals steps you can take to resolve this dilemma and determine which areas to audit in 2013.
How many of you are worried about getting physicians on board with the ICD-10 transition? We all know physicians are busy people. So how do you get them engaged in learning about the increased...
You need enthusiasm and a desire to keeping learning to tackle the monumental task of learning ICD-10-PCS. In authoring an ICD-10 CM/PCS education program 10 hours per work I learn something new...
In order to accurately code physician and provider services, coders must know and understand the place of service (POS) codes. Lori-Lynne A. Webb, CPC, CCS-P, CCP, CHDA, COBGC, details the specific POS codes and how to appropriately report them.
Q: What CPT ® code best describes the Bier block procedure? We are toiling over this and the most recent CPT Assistant says to use 64999 (unlisted procedure, nervous system). But the article referenced is from 2004. We just want to make sure there is nothing more recent.
Quite a few campers took advantage of the nice weather this weekend to make one last trip into the woods before winter. Unfortunately, some of them ended up in Fix ‘Em Up Clinic as a result of their...
Do you know what you don’t know about ICD-10? Do you know where your knowledge gaps are? Unfortunately, the answer is probably no. More than half of the people who responded to our completely...
Wile E. Coyote may bill himself as a Super Genius, but based on his last visit to the ACME ED, I think that’s overstating things a bit. What landed Wile E. back in the ED, you ask? Another...
Coders can go a bit overboard when reporting CCs and MCCs. Cheryl Ericson, MS, RN, CCDS, CDIP, and Deborah K. Hale, CCS, CCDS, reveal the dangers of over-reporting CCs and MCCs and how to report them appropriately.
Thinking about exiting the coding profession before the transition to ICD-10? Laura Legg, RHIT, CCS, enjoys coding too much to give it up and offers some tips for how to prepare for the transition.
Ethical dilemmas can creep in at any time during a coder’s average workday. However, one might be hard pressed to find a coder who will openly acknowledge this. Brad Hart, MBA, MS, CMPE, CPC, COBGC, and Kathy DeVault, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, explore how coders can and should handle ethical dilemmas.
Although hospital infection rates continue to decline, Medicare payment penalties are not the cause, according to the New England Journal of Medicine article titled Effect of Nonpayment for Preventable Infections in U.S. Hospitals .
It’s All Saints Day (you know, the day after Halloween) and the waiting room at the Fix ‘Em Up Clinic is full of ghosties and ghoulies and long-legged beasties. I’m not sure if we have any things...
In this month's issue, we unravel the complexities of billing for self-administered drugs, explain how to jump-start your ICD-10 transition plans, discuss changes to the I/OCE, and answer reader coding questions.
Learn why continuing the momentum will facilitate your transition to ICD-10, how to establish a game plan for ICD-10 physician queries, how one hospital plans to use computer-assisted coding for ICD-10 preparation, why medical coding dilemmas require a proactive approach, and new information about coding metastatic neoplasms.
Because of the increase in the number and type of outpatient services provided, more patients are being impacted by noncoverage of self-administered drugs. Kimberly Hoy, JD, CPC, and Valerie Rinkle, MPA, explain why CMS sometimes--but not always--covers self-administered drugs.
Our coding experts answer your questions about how to determine the correct units for drugs, billing for fluoroscopy, therapy caps under OPPS, and payment for critical care and separately reported services
The manager of clinical documentation integrity program/HIMS at a 300-bed academic medical center and pediatric specialty hospital has high hopes for computer-assisted coding (CAC). In particular, she anticipates that it will increase productivity and ease the transition from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM/PCS.
Every few years, the AHA publishes guidance in Coding Clinic that can significantly affect inpatient coders. Coding Clinic , Second Quarter 2012, includes such guidance.
The ICD-10-CM/PCS delay may give coders more time to learn the new system, but what does this mean for organizations that have already begun to prepare?
ICD-10-CM/PCS incorporates laterality, acuity, anatomical specificity, and a slew of additional combination and complication codes. Who will submit queries when this information is missing in a medical record? Will coders or CDI specialists take on this role? Perhaps it might be a combination of the two.
Hurricane Sandy blasted the Mid-Atlantic region this week, causing plenty of destruction in its wake. We could undoubtedly spend a lot of time coding for the injuries people suffered as a result of...
Basing a coder’s successful completion of a coding audit only on coding accuracy overlooks importance of local coverage determinations (LCD) and national coverage determinations (NCDs). Glenn Krauss, BBA, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, C-CDI, CCDS, explains the role LCDs and NCDs play in determining practical day-to-day coding accuracy.
The CPT ® Editorial Panel revised its guidance for critical care codes to specifically state that, for hospital reporting purposes, critical care codes do not include specified ancillary services. Denise Williams, RN, CPC-H, and Caral Edelberg, CPC, CPMA, CAC, CCS-P, CHC, discuss how coders should code for critical care services and review which services are bundled into critical care.
The rules for coding for facilities and physicians are basically the same for most services, but coders follow different rules for appending certain modifiers. Christi Sarasin, CCS, CCDS, CPC-H, FCS , Kimberly Anderwood Hoy, JD, CPC , and Peggy Blue, MPH, CPC, CCS-P, separate physician and facility rules for using modifiers -26, -TC, and -79.
Q: It appears that one requirement for using CPT ® codes 15002–15005 with application of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is that the wound must be healing by primary intention. Can you explain this? We have never used these codes with preparation for vacuum assisted closure (VAC) placement, but it doesn't make sense, as NPWT is almost always used for wounds healing by secondary intention. Our physicians appreciate any clarification.
Providers are beginning to see some translation of CMS’ National Coverage Determinations (NCD) for ICD-10 with the release of Transmittal R1122OTN and Medlearn Matters Article MM7818 .
Inpatient coders will face a big learning curve when it comes to ICD-10-PCS. It’s a completely different system with a lot more detail than ICD-9-CM Volume 3. The biggest potential problem could be...
Anytown hosted a national ICD-10 conference this week and some of the Fix ‘Em Up Clinic’s coders attended the sessions to learn all about the new coding system. The rest of us got to meet some of the...
In ICD-9-CM, coders report specific codes to indicate a surgeon used robotic assistance. Lori-Lynne A. Webb, CPC, CCS-P, CCP, CHDA, COBGC, explains how that will change in ICD-10-PCS.
Assess. Educate/train. Practice. Gloryanne Bryant, RHIA, CCS, CDIP, CCDS, and Deborah Grider, CPC, CPC-I, CPC-H, CPC-P, CPMA, CEMC, CPCD, COBGC, CCS-P CDIP, reveal how following those three steps can prepare you for ICD-10 implementation.
ICD-10-CM code category J45.- includes new, more specific terms for asthma that may help improve data quality and lead to more effective research and treatments. Deborah Grider, CPC, CPC-I, CPC-H, CPC-P, CPMA, CEMC, CPCD, COBGC, CCS-P CDIP, and Suzan Berman, CPC, CEMC, CEDC, detail the new terminology for asthma coding in ICD-10-CM.
CMS has published two ICD-10-related Special Edition Medlearn Matters articles that may be of interest to providers and serve as tools to assist with implementation.
Getting physicians on board with the transition to ICD-10 won’t be easy, but CMS is trying to help. CMS will host a National Provider Call: Preparing Physicians for ICD-10 Implementation at 1:30 p.m...
