Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Here's how to make your job easier without burdening your neurosurgeon

Before you create a coding worksheet for your office, you should be certain your sheet saves you time and ensures accurate coding -- instead of just leading to more hassles. Use these expert tips to set up your surgical coding sheet today.

Start With the Codes

With so many CPT codes, you won't be able to put every code your office may need to report on one worksheet. Use your billing system to develop a report that shows which CPT and ICD-9 codes your office reported the most. Then, you should set up your worksheet to mirror your findings. You-ll want to incorporate the codes you report most frequently into the worksheet. You should consider how often you use a code in your office to decide whether to add that code to the list on your worksheet.

Tip: Leave the codes that your office never or rarely uses off the sheet all together. Leave space for the more common procedures.

Involve Your Neurosurgeon

The next, and probably most important, step is to take time to talk to your physicians about how they want the worksheet set up, says Suzanne Sams, billing and coding manager with Peninsula Neurosurgical Associates PA in Salisbury, Mass. Discuss how you should organize the codes and how long the sheet can be. If you create a worksheet that isn't easy for your neurosurgeons to use, they won't use it and you-re wasting your time.

Based on her discussion with her physicians, Sams organized her office's worksheet by putting the most commonly performed procedures at the top. See the sample worksheet on page 21 that Sams helped compile. She alphabetically organized the codes her office reported less often.
 
-Would it be easier for your physicians to have everything listed alphabetically rather than the way we did ours?- Sams asks. -Input from your physicians is vital.-

For instance, your neurosurgeon may want a space to write in diagnosis codes, or you may decide to include CPT procedure codes on the front of the coding worksheet and list common diagnosis codes on the back.

Keep It Simple

Try to keep your surgical coding worksheet to one page so that your physician doesn't have to flip through pages and pages of codes to document the procedure. Leave some blank space on the back or at the bottom of the sheet so that the neurosurgeon can write in procedures and diagnoses that are not on the pre-printed coding sheet.

Tip: You should consider including the CPT descriptors of each code or an abbreviated description so that your physician doesn't have to rely on his memory for what each code refers to.

Don't Become Overly Dependent

While a surgical coding worksheet is a great tool to help make your job easier, use caution and don't rely solely on the worksheet for all of your coding decisions. You should always re-read the code descriptors even when you-re using a surgical coding worksheet you created, says Gina Faulkner, CPC, coder for the Hot Springs Neurosurgery Clinic in Arizona. -You can make a mistake even using the codes you see every day,- she adds.