# Silly Question



## alysn1drlnd (Apr 4, 2013)

I have a sort of silly question....so how different is hospital outpatient from physician coding, and which coding books would you recommend one to use for hospital outpatient coding...

thanks!


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## dkaz1 (Apr 5, 2013)

No question is a silly question.

To code outpatient surgery charts you need a ICD9M for Hospitals, Vols 1, 2, & 3; a Professional version of CPT, and a HCPCS book.

A lot of outpatient coders have an encoder to use when coding Ambulatory Surgery charts too.

Debbie K


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## mitchellde (Apr 5, 2013)

dkaz1 said:


> No question is a silly question.
> 
> To code outpatient surgery charts you need a ICD9M for Hospitals, Vols 1, 2, & 3; a Professional version of CPT, and a HCPCS book.
> 
> ...


Outpatient does not use volume 3 codes, nor will they use ICD-10 PCS, those are for the inpatient coding only.
Outpatient must know the ins and outs of APCs and OPPS, they use the ICD-9 CM/ ICD-10 CM diagnosis codes, CPT codes , and HCPC II codes.  You need to know what revenue codes are and what CPT codes go with which revenue codes, what is G0 condition codes and when and how to use a 27 modifier.  and how E&M coding is significantly different from physician E&M coding.


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