We’ve survived the holiday feast and decided to skip the doorbusting to head out and visit the cute and fluffy animals at the Anytown Zoo. Of course, no outing would be complete without some injuries...
Tom Turkey has come in to the Stitch ‘Em Up Hospital for a little work before Thanksgiving. Dr. Carver is going to first take out Tom’s guts, then replace them with stuffing. How would we code Tom’s...
With the increased specificity required for ICD-10-CM coding, coders need a solid foundation in anatomy and physiology. Review the anatomy of the endocrine system and how to code for conditions affecting it.
AHIMA is calling for coders, billers, and providers to contact Congress to ask for no additional delays to ICD-10 after physician groups have recently started to advocate for members to petition Congress to introduce a new, two-year implementation delay to push the compliance date to October 1, 2017.
Q: We have a patient diagnosed with neuropathy due to poorly controlled insulin-dependent Type 1 diabetes mellitus. What should we report in ICD-10-CM?
The majority of providers either stopped or slowed their ICD-10 preparations as a result of the latest implementation delay, but now providers have less than a year to become ready. CMS' Denesecia Green and Stacey Shagena offer advice on how providers can create an action plan to be ready by October 1, 2015—even if they haven't started yet.
In its November issue, the Journal of AHIMA published an article citing significantly lower costs for physician practices to transition to ICD-10 than the numbers supplied by Nachimson Advisors in a...
Oh, that Jose Canseco. Such a kidder. Turns out, his claim that his finger fell off during a poker game was a joke. He did actually shoot part of it off “cleaning” his gun and did indeed have it...
Malnutrition is at its most basic level any nutritional imbalance and it is often underdiagnosed. James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS, William E. Haik, MD, FCCP, CDIP, and Mindy Hamilton, RD, LD , explain the clinical indicators and coding basics for malnutrition.
Providers gauge the severity of an acute brain injury using the Glasgow Coma Scale, and in ICD-10-CM, coders will be able to code this score. Kim Carr, RHIT, CCS, CDIP, CCDS , and Gretchen Young-Charles, RHIA, explain how to code the coma scale in ICD-10-CM.
Q: We have a problem getting our physicians to understand what we are querying for chronic respiratory failure when a patient is on home oxygen continuously with documented supplementary oxygen of less than 90%, or arterial blood gas with hypoxemia. The physicians tell us chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is chronic respiratory failure by definition. Can you help us clarify this situation or give us some tips on how to educate our physicians?
Coders often talk about guidelines and coding conventions, but what about ethics? Robert S. Gold, MD , discusses the value of following ethical coding standards.
Baseball fans may remember Jose Canseco as part of the Oakland A’s slugging duo, the Bash Brothers. He made a lot of money hitting the ball very, very far. I hope he saved some for his medical bills...
As healthcare professionals, we’re all familiar to some degree with HIPAA. You know, the law that makes it illegal to release protected health information, among other things. Hospital employees have...
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for ICD-10 implementation by small physician practices was the estimated cost of the transition. Those costs may not be as high as originally estimated, according...
Ever play with a Magic 8 Ball? (If not, there’s an app for that.) Ask it a question, shake it up, and get an answer. Usually something vague (and vaguely ominous) like, “Reply hazy try again.” Asking...
CMS finalized a new data collection requirement for services performed in off-campus, provider-based clinics in the 2015 OPPS final rule , which was released October 31.
Nearly 30% of Medicare patients are enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) programs, which come with specific coding and documentation challenges. Elaine King, MHS, RHIA, CHP, CHDA, CDIP, FAHIMA, and Bonnie S. Cassidy, MPA, RHIA, FAHIMA, FHIMSS, highlight key requirements for reporting diagnoses that map to Hierarchical Condition Category codes, the basis of MA plans.
The House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would impact supervision levels for certain outpatient services. Debbie Mackaman, RHIA, CPCO , reviews the impact of the legislation and which provider types and services it would affect.
