Option to pass the buck to appointed board now gone. While the Independent Payment Advisory Board created by the Affordable Care Act was never convened, many Medicare providers are glad to see it finally killed off in the Bipartisan Budget [...]
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree. While the Independent Payment Advisory Board created by the Affordable Care Act was never convened, many Medicare providers are glad to see it finally killed off in the Bipartisan Budget Act signed [...]
Hint: Use same basis for arrival at final code as in ICD-9. When your gastroenterologist diagnoses acute gastritis, you’ll have to scour through patient documentation to check presence or absence of bleeding to arrive at the appropriate diagnosis code while [...]
Hint: The existence or lack of bleeding is still the final key to right code selection. If you’re reporting chronic gastritis diagnosis after Oct.1, 2014, be ready to scrutinize documentation minutely --- you will need to focus on lab findings [...]
Question: The admitting physician documented alcoholic gastritis due to chronic alcoholism. What would be the correct sequence of codes? Washington Subscriber Answer: The patient is being seen because of the alcoholic gastritis, which makes that condition the principal diagnosis and [...]
Your stake in the wage index lottery is going to get higher next year, if a proposal from CMS becomes final. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services wants to increase the labor portion of the prospective payment system rate [...]
Question: What is the diagnosis code for antral erythema?Washington, D.C. SubscriberAnswer: If your gastroenterologist hasn't diagnosed anything more specific, use 535.4 (Other specified gastritis). You would use this code when your physician refers to redness in the bottom of the [...]
A potential $280 reimbursement could slip through your fingers if you fail to report control-of-bleeding correctly. When your gastroenterologist performs EGD to control upper gastrointestinal bleeding, you might not look beyond a sole CPT code to report the procedure. Here's [...]
All you need to report are signs and symptoms when diagnostics come back normal.You think you may have mastered most ICD-9 challenges, but do you know how to deal with a diagnostic test that comes back sans a definitive diagnosis? [...]
Heed 3 quick rules to code these testing results.You think you may have mastered most ICD-9 challenges, but do you know how to deal with a diagnostic test that comes back sans a definitive diagnosis? When you make sure to [...]
