Recent technological advancements have changed the way we see things, paving the way for the growth of concepts such as telemedicine, or telehealth, in the field of medical technology. Telehealth is a method of providing clinical healthcare to someone from a distance, by the use of telecommunication and information technology.
Read MoreIn today’s connected world, almost everyone has heard the term HIPAA, or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and has some idea that it’s related to healthcare privacy. However, some entities tout themselves as being HIPAA Certified. What does that mean, especially to a company looking for this type of certification?
Read MoreThe ICD-10 frenzy came and went. Armageddon type reparations were made for the major overhaul ICD-10 brought about. Employers hired extra coding staff in preparation of possible delays while coders adjusted to the higher levels of specificity. Now ICD-11 is coming and preparations have begun. Let’s look at what ICD-11 will bring and how you can be part of the upcoming changes.
Read MoreImplemented on March 5, 2018, CMS relaxed the teaching physician guidelines to allow for broader usage of medical student documentation. Previously, CMS restricted student documentation to solely recording the review of systems (ROS) and past medical, family, and social history (PFSH). The teaching physician would need to document or re-document any other aspects of the visit. The update allows the teaching physician to utilize the student’s documentation of the entire visit.
Read MoreDid you know there’s a competition to determine the “best” coder? The 2nd Annual ICD-10 Coding Contest took place July 14 - August 11, 2017. Central Learning sponsored the coding competition and recruited coders from all over the nation to participate in coding a total of 1,636 real medical record cases. Ninety-nine percent of the participants were certified coders. The inpatient coders who participated had an average of 14.3 years coding experience while the outpatient coder experience averaged 9.9 years.
Read MoreCapturing maximum E/M revenue should always be the goal while coding major surgeries and modifier 57 can help.
Read MoreICD-10 mirrors Y2K; speculation and anxiety surrounding new changes and the unknown. Just like Y2K, we all survived without catastrophic meltdown.
Read MoreAchieving a better night sleep and less work stress could definitely be added as the seventh and eighth reason to audit this year, but we suspect those will come as benefits to addressing the six reasons to audit in 2017.
Read MoreWhether you're facing a backlog associated with growing lag days or discharged not final-billed (DNFB), you're preparing for an Electronic Health Records (EHR) conversion, expanding your service line, or there are geographic obstacles preventing you from finding all the internal coding resources you need... outsourcing can be the answer you're looking for.
Read MoreThe Centers for Medicare & Medicaid announced last October the award of a new round of contracts for the Medicare Fee-for-Service Recovery Audit.
Read MoreHave you ever wondered how to capture appropriate levels of evaluation and management when counseling or coordination of care dominates the majority of a visit? There are some simple tips to remember when billing time-based EM codes.
Read MoreThe start of the new year is a great time to evaluate your facility’s past performance, identifying areas of excellence and areas for improvement. After evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each department and your revenue cycle, crafting a set of resolutions can help you achieve optimal results and surpass prior year’s successes.
Read MoreKelly Jacobus, who has nearly 20 years of experience in facility and professional fee coding, recently passed the certification exam to earn her Certified Health Data Analyst (CHDA) credential.
Read MoreThe holiday season is upon us and for those of us in Health Information Management (HIM), added stress is a given because HIM is the single most critical process in the revenue cycle.
Many facilities strive to finish the year with strong cash reserves, so December often brings added pressure to HIM professionals, responsible for controlling the cash flow and answering to CFOs, who keep a close eye on the Discharged Not Final Billed (DNFB) report.
Read MoreAs coders we face many struggles, including determining when the use of modifier 25 is appropriate.
Modifier 25 was designed to indicate a significant, separately identifiable evaluation and management (EM) service, by the same physician/specialty on the day of a procedure with a global period of 0/10 days. What can be challenging is knowing when to apply the modifier correctly.
Read MoreQuestion: I’m seeing a lot of physicians assigning diabetes with hyperglycemia for “uncontrolled” diabetes. Somehow this doesn’t seem right. Could someone explain to me what the criteria for hyperglycemia is?
Answer: Hyperglycemia has no strict definition and varies from patient to patient in different situations. Anything over a blood glucose over 100 can be considered “hyperglycemia”. In practice...
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Often times we find ourselves in a same old, same old place due to safe career choices. We find ourselves in a comfortable job where everything is familiar and routine. It’s fine for a while, but eventually it gets rather boring. How did this happen to me? How did I get myself in such a rut? If this sounds familiar, it may be time for a change!
A smart move would be to consider a career in Health Information Management (HIM). The HIM industry is growing by leaps and bounds and there are many career paths in this dynamic field.
Read MoreUnclear code descriptions and undefined diagnostic terms abound in ICD-10 CM. How are coders and CDI specialists to know what do do?
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