Hot Coding Topics

Collections: Banish Co-pay, A/R Problems

5 tips help you recover deserved pay. Collecting money from patients, especially during a recession, can be challenging. If your front desk is responsible for collecting copays and sometimes old balances, its success or failure has a dramatic impact on the practice’s bottom line. Check out five ways you can improve your front desk collection efforts: 1. When [...] Related articles:

  1. Medical Billers: Test Your Collections Know-How Here This nifty tool tells you if collections cluelessness is...
  2. Time Your Surgical Collections Right by Referencing Payer Contracts Find out if you’re legal in collecting patient portion...
  3. Overcome ‘Forgot the Checkbook’ Excuses With This Checklist   When you get the old “I forgot my...

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February 7, 2010
Pain Management / Toolkit

Pain Management Coding: TPI Do’s and Don’ts for Pay You Can Keep

Sample ICD-9 codes to support medical necessity for trigger point injections. Counting the right items, knowing insurer-allowed diagnoses, and documenting affected muscles will get your trigger point injection (TPI) claims paid while protecting you from paybacks. Further, knowing each insurers’ covered diagnoses for TPIs is vital to healthy coding. √ Do Count Muscles Injected Coders should report 20552 (Injection[s]; single [...] Related articles:

  1. Trigger Point Injection Coding: Count Targets, Not Shots Become the top TPI gun in your coding department...
  2. Dx Coding Moves That Stop Denials for Chronic Pain ClaimsTip: Code prior conditions in these cases. Imagine your pain...
  3. Pain Management Coding Update: Facet Joint Injection CPT Changes for 2010Pain management, anesthesia, orthopedic, physiatry & neurology coders get ready...

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December 2, 2009
CPT 2010 / Hot Coding Topics

PQRI: No Coumadin Due to Fall Risk

Plus, experts at the AMA meeting in Chicago tell you what to do if you can’t get H1N1 vaccine for PQRI Measure 110 or other vaccine measures. Question: My internist decided not to put a patient on Coumadin because the patient has a higher risk of falling than from having a stroke. Our group participates in [...] Related articles:

  1. Smokin’ PQRI Pointers We’ve got the G codes you need to score...
  2. Make Sure These Errors Don’t Sink Your PQRI BonusCMS shows which issues sidelined these practices. Most practices would...
  3. Track Payer’s Preferred H1N1 Admin Code — or Risk RejectionsCode 488.1 does not = confirmed lab. Swine flu has...

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November 13, 2009
CPT / Hot Coding Topics / Medicare

Medicare 2010 CPT Consultation Code Changes

New rules for consult coding straight from the AMA Meeting in Chicago — plus where your practice will gain and lose reimbursement. If you can’t figure out how to match a low level consult to an initial hospital care code, you’re not alone. Code 99251 doesn’t crosswalk to 99221, agreed William J. Mangold, Jr., MD, JD, Noridian [...] Related articles:

  1. Medicare Changes to 2010 CPT Inpatient Consultation Codes Prevent 99251-99245 denials in 2010 with this checklist. Multiple...
  2. CMS at AMA Chicago: We’re Reducing Consult Request RequirementCMS auditors will look for 1 less thing in consult...
  3. Consultation 5 R’s Miss 1 element, and invite auditors to check out...

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November 12, 2009
Coding Challenge / modifier 50

Is 30901 Your Nosebleed Code? Not So Fast?

Hint: Look for these keywords in the note to select the correct nosebleed code. Question: The internist stops a patient’s nosebleed. Is this always a procedure? Answer: No, if a patient reports with a nosebleed and the physician stops the bleeding with basic methods, you’ll typically opt for the appropriate-level E/M code. E/M methods: Code minimal attempts at [...] Related articles:

  1. Can You Code ‘Buddy Taping’ Separately? Question: An established patient complains of pain in her...
  2. Should You Code Presenting Symptoms Along With Dx? Question: An established patient complains of trouble breathing and...
  3. How Do I Code Blood Draw Plus E/M?Question: An established type II diabetic patient comes in for...

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November 11, 2009