On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me 11 pipers piping. You know that saying about being careful what you wish for? It’s very true. I jokingly told my true love we needed musicians for...
On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me 10 lords a-leaping. My house isn’t big enough for all of these dancers. Several of them mistimed their leaps and collided midair and they’re down...
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me nine ladies dancing. Um, ladies, this isn’t Radio City Music Hall. Please watch where you’re kicking. Don’t look now, but Great Aunt Edna has...
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me eight maids a-milking. Why, exactly, has a herd of cows taken up residence in my backyard, True Love? What are we going to do with them and more...
CMS Transmittal 547 changes the audit timeframe for complex reviews from 60 to 30 days for some MAC and Recovery Auditor reviews. The change could significantly affect the volume and timeliness of complex reviews for providers. The transmittal becomes effective February 24, 2015.
In the first part of a two-part series, Shelley C. Safian, PhD, CCS-P, CPC-H, CPC-I, AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer, discusses the use of Z codes in ICD-10-CM.
Q: If the physician writes septic shock instead of sepsis, do I need to query for sepsis? Is this an integral part of the diagnosis and sepsis would be the principal diagnosis, with septic shock a secondary diagnosis, making it an MCC?
The anatomical definition of a body part may not be the same as the ICD-10-PCS identification of a body part. Jennifer Avery, CCS, CPC-H, CPC, CPC-I, Nena Scott, MSEd, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, and Gretchen Young-Charles, RHIA, explain the guidelines for selecting the appropriate body part and how body parts can affect root operation selection.
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me seven swans a-swimming. To be completely accurate, he took a group of us on a road trip to a pond where the swans swam in blissful ignorance of...
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me six geese a-laying. My favorite Uncle Ted was so excited about this gift that he rushed right over to relieve those geese of their eggs. Bad idea...
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me five golden rings. Hey wait, there are only four rings here. Where did the other one go? Oh no, little Andrew shoved it up his nose. Time to...
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me four calling birds. I’m starting to think he raided a pet shop. Or maybe he captured these in the park. He says they’re calling birds. They look...
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me, three French hens. Awesome, more birds. My house is starting to look like an aviary. I’m also not sure why my true love thought it necessary to...
The added detail found in ICD-10-CM may require coders to brush up on their anatomy and physiology training to select the most appropriate codes. Shelley C. Safian, PhD, CCS-P, CPC-H, CPC-I , reviews the anatomy of the male reproductive system and how coding for it will change in ICD-10-CM.
Lori-Lynne A. Webb, CPC, CCS-P, CCP, CHDA, COBGC , writes about how to reduce queries by highlighting the information providers need to document for the most common OB ultrasound procedures.
Q: I have a question regarding CPT ® code 99184 (initiation of selective head or total body hypothermia in critically ill neonate, includes appropriate patient selection by review of clinical, imaging, and laboratory data, confirmation of esophageal temperature probe location, evaluation of amplitude EEG, supervision of controlled hypothermia, and assessment of patient tolerance of cooling) in the 2015 CPT Manual . What if the neonate is in the hospital for several weeks? The total body hypothermia is performed, the baby improves, but remains in the hospital and then needs the procedure performed a second time. Can we report it a second time if several weeks have elapsed?
Recovery Auditors have identified improper payments for claims involving end-stage renal disease (ESRD) services when more than one monthly service was billed per month and per-day codes exceeded the limit, according to the latest Medicare Quarterly Provider Compliance Newsletter .
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me, two turtle doves. Hmm, you think he would have learned his lesson with the partridge. Apparently not. And apparently Mr. Whiskers isn’t hungry...
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree. How…nice. Fortunately, the tree is way too big for the living room (it also clashes with my real Christmas tree)...
Usually in this blog, I talk about ICD-10 implementation and coding from the coder or HIM point of view. But I wanted to share some suggestions from James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS, CDIP, president of...
