Spinal cord injury without evidence of spinal bone injury (952)

Beware triggering unexpected dangers when compensating your medical directors. Does the OIG have you in their sights? Read on to see how you can avoid being their next target. What the Law Says: The Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) is a criminal [...]

Staying up-to-date with anti-kickback laws will help keep you in the clear. The OIG (Office of Inspector General) issued a Fraud Alert on compensation for medical directorships on June 9, 2015. Read on for the scoop on how your anesthesiologists [...]

Question: Our carrier will only reimburse for visual evoked response testing if I code optic neuritis and not, for instance, for multiple sclerosis (MS). Is this correct? Maryland Subscriber Answer: Visual evoked potential (VEP) testing (95930, central nervous system, checkerboard [...]

Some examples of patients who might receive neurocritical care E/M services include patients with the following diagnoses: Cerebral vascular occlusion/stroke (434) Hydrocephalus (742.3) Intracerebral hemorrhage (431) Myasthenia gravis crisis (358.01) Spinal cord injury (952) Status migrainosus (346) Status epilepticus (345.3) [...]

Question: A patient reports to the ED complaining of urinary symptoms; he says that he "hasn't peed since yesterday," and he reports a 7 on a 10-point pain scale. Notes indicate that following several attempts by the nurse, the physician [...]

Many of last year's codes were missing fifth digits A beneficiary's diagnosis determines his or her therapy cap exceptions, but CMS' original ICD-9 list was flawed. Note the changes between the old list and the updated, corrected list outlined in [...]

Find out what codes you should use for the most common CVA late effects You could be submitting inaccurate information and possibly compromising your practice's bottom line by not properly coding late-effects diagnoses.  Using these codes doesn't have to be [...]

Question: How should I apply late effects codes? For instance, what primary diagnosis should I report if the surgeon is treating a patient for late effects of spinal fracture from an auto accident?Montana Subscriber Answer: When you report late effects [...]

WC insurers often require information about the accident or disease's cause Workers' compensation (WC) claims don't just apply to accidents - you may see patients who present with work-related diseases as well as injuries. Applying E codes strengthens your WC [...]

Use per-diem codes for ESRD services if patient is hospitalized during month A provision in last December's Medicare Modernization Act that expands the situations under which a physician can reassign billing privileges to another entity should be implemented soon, officials [...]