Have your documentation ready for reporting level P4 and higher.
Physical status modifiers, also referred to as P modifiers, PS modifiers, ASAs or ASA P codes, are an important element of your anesthesia coding. If you don’t use them correctly,...
If your radiologist performs adjustments during the bariatric surgery’s global period, do this.
Question: Our radiologists perform percutaneous LAP-BAND adjustments. We report S2083 for the service and 77002 for the fluoroscopy. Is this the correct fluoroscopy code?
Connecticut Subscriber
Answer:...
Keep signature, modifier 59, and ‘Incident To’ guidelines front and center.
If you’ve been worrying that the oncologist’s illegible signature on an order is going to come back to haunt your practice in an audit, CMS has offered
answers...
Plus: CMS reps cite current Medicare law and advise that practices should report just one inpatient care code per patient, per day.
Although CMS has eliminated payment for consult codes, it will continue to honor split/shared visits — as long...
But because legislators missed the cutoff by one day, some claims were processed using a lower rate.Although the government appeared poised to take a big bite out of your next Part B payments, you have another month before...
Medicare won’t pay 69210 alone, so here’s how to unlock payment.
Impacted cerumen removal is a fairly straightforward procedure, but billing for the procedure is not always so simple.
The problem: Most payers, including Medicare,consider 69210 (Removal impacted cerumen [separate...
Decipher what column 1/column 2 means in this neurosurgery bundle example.
Question: Would you explain what the differences are between mutually exclusive and “column 1/column 2″ edits that come from the Correct Coding Initiative (CCI)?
Florida Subscriber
Answer: Mutually exclusive...
No legislative wrangling can take place until April 12.
Unless Congress steps in soon, you could be facing the 21.2 percent Medicare pay cut that you’ve feared since January.
Despite several Congressional attempts to cobble together another temporary pay fix...
Find out what incident-to requirements you have to meet.
Question: Is there any circumstance in which a group can bill all services and all providers (including other physicians) under just the head doctor? I know we can bill NPP...
Examine Medicare’s coverage guidelines.
Question: My ob-gyn sees a patient who has breast implants or breast augmentation and orders a mammogram. Should I count the mammography as a screening or a diagnostic test?
Louisiana Subscriber
Answer: Implants and augmentation...
Test your 2010 consultation coding understanding with these questions and answers.
Consultation coding has every practice on edge this year. Ensure that you’ve got a handle on this complicated coding and billing situation by taking this three-question quiz and then...
The answer hinges on the urologist’s interpretation.
Question: A patient had a robotic prostatectomy for prostate cancer on Jan. 1. Then the patient started experiencing voiding problems in February. At that time my doctor did a cystoscopy to check for...
Forget about incident-to in the facility, but consider this similar billing technique.
ED coders that have never heard of “incident-to” billing have nothing to worry about, as you cannot code for “incident-to” services in the hospital. Coders that don’t understand...
Find out where to report date of services on your claim form.
Question: Which date(s) of service should I report for 30-day cardiac event monitoring?
Washington Subscriber
Answer: For Noridian Medicare, your Part B administrator for Washington, you’ll need to...
Find out what steps Congress must take to delay the much feared 21.2 percent pay cut.If a new bill — already approved by the Senate — moves forward, you could have another six months before the 21.2 percent...
In MSP cases, non-consult code for both payers may be best.
If you have payers who didn’t play follow-the-leader with Medicare in cutting out consult codes, you have a dilemma on your hands. You have to decide what to do...