ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Check RVUs before settling on the first fracture care code to report.When your ED physician performs repairs of multiple fractures on the same patient in the same session, you can easily leave deserved reimbursement on the table if you don't mind the work units associated with each repair code."The rule of thumb in reporting multiple fractures is to list the procedure performed with the highest RVUs [relative value units] as primary, followed by the other procedures in descending RVU value order," Yvonne P. Bouvier, CPC, CEDC, senior coding analyst at Bill Dunbar and Associates, LLC in Indianapolis."This ensures that carriers will pay the procedure with the highest dollar value first, and at the highest percent of payment, followed by the lesser procedures paid at the common surgical reduction rates," she says.Those reduction rates can wreak havoc with your bottom line if you're not careful, as all fracture care codes submitted [...]