In February 2016, just four months after ICD-10 go-live, sister publication HIM Briefings (formerly Medical Records Briefing ) asked a range of healthcare professionals to weigh in on their productivity in ICD-9 versus ICD-10.
ICD-10 has brought us I10 (essential [primary] hypertension). Some of us thought "That's a relief," while some of us thought "That's a travesty." I am one of the latter.
Last year, as ICD-10 implementation approached, organizations throughout the U.S. reported varying levels of comfort with regard to readiness and understanding of the impact of ICD-10 on physician workflow. For some, it was business as usual. For other physicians, ICD-10 became one more check box on the list of reasons to leave practice.
CMS proposed an extensive five-year, two-phase plan to overhaul Part B drug payments for physicians and hospitals in March outside of the normal OPPS rulemaking cycle that could be implemented as early as this fall.
Few in the healthcare industry would argue that the way the government currently pays for drugs is the most cost-effective, efficient, and equitable method possible.
CMS released a list of the thousands of new ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS codes set to be activated October 1, 2016, as part of the 2017 IPPS proposed rule.
Lori-Lynne A. Webb, CPC, CCS-P, CCP, CHDA, COBGC, CDIP, writes about terminology coders will encounter in documentation for Pap tests and other cervical cancer screening report
Jugna Shah, MPH, looks at CMS’ new proposal to implement a new drug payment model for certain providers and how they can comment in order to the agency about its impact on their facilities.
CMS allows, and sometimes requires, providers to report certain modifiers in order to identify when a service has been provided by different types of therapists. Review the requirements for reporting modifiers –GN, -GO, -GP, and –KX.
Q: Our providers are reluctant to document a correlation between symptoms and a true diagnosis. Do you have any good ways to get them to do this? For example, our providers document "diabetes" but they often don't include additional details that should be there (e.g., gestational diabetes or type II diabetes mellitus in pregnancy).
ICD-10-PCS defines the root operations in very specific ways and coders need to know the definitions and the nuances of the root operations. Learn more about root operations that involve the physician looking at a patient, Inspection and Map.
Q: We have a teenager with systemic lupus erythematosus and history of lupus nephritis who came into the ED with seizures. The physician admitted the patient with documentation of with status epilepticus and hypertensive urgency. The intensivists then documented hypertensive encephalopathy. What should we choose as the principal diagnosis?
Anny Pang Yuen, RHIA, CCS, CCDS, CDIP and Laurie Prescott, MSN, RN, CCDS, CDIP discuss how for the past few years, healthcare professionals have focused on ICD-10 preparation, and while prep work paid off and the transition has been largely successful, facilities are experiencing a few bumps as their focus shifts from preparation to improvement of clinical documentation and coding.
Robert S. Gold, MD, writes about the significant changes in documentation needs for diseases of the brain and how this can affect patient data, as well as the treatment needs of the patients both during a hospital stay and afterward.
CMS issued the fiscal year 2017 IPPS proposed rule yesterday with updates to several quality initiatives and a reversal of the agency’s 0.2% payment reduction instituted along with the 2-midnight rule in the FY 2014 rule.
Pregnant patients with other health issues can lead to complicated coding scenarios. Lori-Lynne A. Webb, CPC, CCS-P, CCP, CHDA, COBGC, CDIP, writes about the clinical documentation necessary to identify certain complications and how coders can report these diagnoses. Note: To access this free article, make sure you first register here if you do not have a paid subscription. Once you have set up your free registration, you can log in and access this article by clicking here.
