CDC issues warning that this year's flu season is already off the charts. Reports suggest that this flu season is ramping up to be in the record books. It's no fun getting sick, but it can be even less fun [...]
Question: We give quite a few flu shots at our pulmonology practice, and the doctor said she heard at a conference that many of the codes have changed for 2018. Is that accurate, and if so, which new codes should [...]
Hint: Be aware of imaging, flu vaccine updates. As emergency departments nationwide prepare to turn their calendars to 2018, it's a good time to brush up on the changes that you'll face when Jan. 1 comes around. From new CPT® [...]
Plus: What is focal asymmetry? As any mammogram coder can tell you, diagnosis and screening are not the only applications for mammograms. Your physician may also use mammography to guide the placement of wires, needles, clips, radioactive seeds, and other [...]
Therapy episodes would get reimbursed less. If your claims are dominated by episodes with high therapy, no recent hospital stays, or patients with behavioral health conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or drug addiction, Medicare’s draft for HH PPS payment [...]
Postprocedural complications and mediastinitis add up to the J codes. Are you unnerved with the news of 1,900 new ICD-10-CM codes and over 3,000 new PCS codes being added to the ICD-10-CM codeset, as per the annual update due to [...]
You don’t have to get confused with many options! One good thing about the transition to ICD-10 is that the diagnosis coding guidelines for mammograms have not changed significantly, so it should be easy for you to use the new [...]
Include hematological findings to bolster claims for services. When pulmonologist diagnoses a patient with Acute Chest Syndrome (ACS, 517.3), you will reap the best benefits if you not only know how to code the signs and symptoms but also such [...]
Watch for procedures where mammography is inclusive. When reporting mammograms, you can make your life easy by understanding why your radiologist did the procedure and what was the result of the investigation. Besides diagnosis and screening, radiologists can use mammography [...]
Question: How can we code for a ‘focal asymmetry’ found during a mammogram of the breast? Michigan Subscriber Answer: You report a focal asymmetry on a mammogram with code 793.82 (Inconclusive mammogram). What is a focal asymmetry? Your physician will [...]
