Maybe the AMA’s letter did the trick. Or maybe CMS just thought better of its decision not to conduct end-to-end testing prior to ICD-10 implementation. According to MLN Matters® SE1409 , CMS will...
What did you get for Valentine’s Day? Flowers? Chocolate? Mono? It is the kissing disease after all. ICD-9-CM includes only one code for infectious mononucleosis: 075. That code includes glandular...
Poor Paul, he just wanted to take his black Labrador Molly to the vet for her checkup. Instead he ended up needing a doctor. Paul put down a sheet in his truck so Molly wouldn’t have to sit on the...
/*--> */ In its continuing quest to halt ICD-10 implementation, the AMA is touting a new study by Nachimson Advisors that shows much higher costs to physician practices than initially estimated in...
Is this love that I’m feeling? Or do I have some deadly disease? What are my symptoms? Well, I feel lightheaded and dizzy. It could be the signs of new love or it could be acute mountain sickness...
There before me was a pale horse and its rider was named Reimbursement. Meet the final horseman of the ICD-10 Apocalypse and probably the one that keeps your C-suite up at night: Reimbursement. The...
It turns out that Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow, and thereby forecasting six more weeks of winter, wasn’t the most painful part of Groundhog Day. Phil picked a bad moment to suffer from stage...
Shoveling snow can be great exercise. You can burn a lot of calories (depending on how much snow you’re shoveling and how much effort you’re putting into it). However, shoveling snow can also be...
Baby, it’s cold outside. Really, really cold. And unlike polar bears and snow leopards, I am not a cold weather animal. So to offset the cold this morning (and motivate myself to crawl out from under...
You can stop holding your breath. Shelley C. Safian, PhD, MAOM/HSM, CCS-P, CPC-H, CPC-I, CHA , AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer, and Tara L. Bell, RN, MSN, CCM, AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS...
Our beloved (and much used) ICD-9-CM code 250.00 (unspecified diabetes) is going away soon. In fact, the whole idea of controlled or uncontrolled diabetes won’t matter either for coding purposes in...
What can we revise today at Stitch ‘Em Up Hospital? First, we need to know what falls under root operation revision in ICD-10-PCS. Is it a procedure where the physician alters a body part, such as a...
Odds are, most coders will never use ICD-10-PCS table 0W4. Why? Because root operation 4 is creation (making a new genital structure that does not physically take the place of a body part). Unless...
259 days. That’s the time remaining until we start using ICD-10. How far along are you? You’ve completed your coding assessments, right? Hopefully, you’ve already started your coder training. At the...
You’ve heard about temperatures so hot you can fry an egg on the sidewalk, right? (I don’t recommend eating the egg afterwards.) It turns out the polar vortex was so cold you could freeze boiling...
We’re on to the third horseman of our ICD-10 Apocalypse: productivity. More specifically, the anticipated upcoming decline in coder productivity. You’ve probably heard the horror stories about the 50...
Ann came in to Stitch ‘Em Up Hospital for a breast biopsy to confirm a diagnosis of breast cancer. Dr. Richards performed the biopsy and based on the results, decided to perform a partial mastectomy...
Fix ‘Em Up Clinic is open for 2014 and we’ve already seen some interesting post-New Year injuries. Rebecca is complaining of pain in her right ankle. Dr. Frost reviews her past medical history and...
It’s the gift-giving season and HCPro is giving you free on-demand access to the audio conference, ICD-10-PCS: Coding, Structure and Format, when you sign up for the January 10 live webcast, ICD-10-...
Recently, Dr. Seuss saw the Grinch for a variety of health concerns. Today, he’s seeing some others who are not in the holiday spirit. First is Mr. Scrooge, who complains he is being harassed by...
