Late pregnancy (645)

Tip: Over 42 weeks means you should opt for “prolonged” code. Patients whose pregnancies last longer than 40 weeks gestation are either labeled “post term pregnancies” (40-42 weeks) or “prolonged pregnancies” (over 42 weeks).  ICD-9-CM Codes: Currently, you should report [...]

Question: A 36-year-old pregnant female, primigravida, was admitted at 42 weeks of gestation. A low cervical C-section was performed due to breech presentation. The patient required IV antibiotics during labor and delivery for a generalized infection of Group B Streptococcus. [...]

Apply this sequencing advice to ethically maximize reimbursement. Not paying attention to work units for all the fractures that your surgeon is treating can turn these procedures into a cash sink hole. The solution? Ensure you are paid the highest [...]

Keep these factors in mind when pursuing this alternative sanction. Along with a myriad of new civil money penalties and alternative sanctions, you also have a new informal dispute resolution (IDR) option. Although the new process sounds "friendly" enough, the [...]

Many Americans fail to reach their developmental potential, and public programs like Medicare, the employment disability system, and the justice system incur substantial costs, as a result of high levels of uninsurance. So says the Institute of Medicine's Committee on [...]

Hospitals will have until Oct. 1, 2003, before their most up-to-date cost data is used to calculate "outlier" payments under the final rule issued June 5 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Outlier payments are designed to ensure [...]

Hospitals could take steps to alter their home care transfer policies if they're forced to tighten up their related billing. Hospitals with high error rates for post-acute transfers could be in for aggressive enforcement actions from federal regulators. Hospitals collected [...]

"The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) recently announced new and revised ICD-9 codes for 2001. With several changes affecting ob/gyns, practices are wise to start reviewing their patient encounter forms to keep them up-to-date. Although the changes are effective Oct. [...]

Antepartum fetal stress testing can be a difficult area for many ob/gyn coders. Choosing the correct diagnosis code and matching CPT code often necessitates an in-depth understanding of the indications for these tests. In addition, some of these tests are [...]