Reimbursement:
Is Outdated Coding Delaying Your Reimbursement?
Published on Fri Mar 30, 2012
Watch out for these old codes. If you're receiving denied claims due to diagnosis coding errors, it may be time to review the list of codes that became invalid this year. Getting invalid codes off your claims will help speed your cash flow. Edits catch ICD-9 codes that are no longer valid and these claims are rejected, explained Joanne Byron of the American Institute of Healthcare Compliance Inc. Then you have to correct and resub-mit these claims, delaying payment, Byron said in the Eli-sponsored audioconference ICD-9-CM 2012 Diagnosis Coding Update. To avoid this disruption in revenue flow, make sure you know which ICD-9 codes will put the brakes on your reimbursement. E coli code 041.4 (Escherichia coli [E. coli] infection in conditions classified elsewhere and of unspecified site) is no longer a valid code. You must now select a fifth digit when reporting 041.4x for E coli. Codes 041.41 (Shiga [...]