Tip: Count both individual and group counseling services provided to the patient. When your physician uses his expertise to counsel a patient about obesity, the last thing you want to face is a denial for these services. Keep track of, [...]
Hint: Use appropriate ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes to support the medical necessity. When your physician counsels a patient for obesity, you will need to know what codes to report for the service, the number of sessions that receive coverage, along [...]
Hint: Use appropriate ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes to support the medical necessity. When your FP counsels a patient for obesity, you will need to know what codes to report for the service, the number of sessions that receive coverage, along [...]
Don’t forget the ‘Five A’ strategy in your documentation. When CMS established code G0447 in 2011, Part B practices were thrilled to have a way to report obesity counseling. However, in the three years that have passed since the code [...]
Question: A patient came to our office for a follow-up visit because of her sleep apnea. She is obese and has hypertension. We’re not treating those conditions, although they could be causes of the obstructive sleep apnea. Our physician documents [...]
Look to the 438.xx codes for complications. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has made clear it’s not happy with the state of diagnosis coding for hospice patients. Thankfully, you have an opportunity to improve your accuracy before your [...]
Question: We have been calculating our patients’ body mass index (BMI) when we perform well visits. How do we bill for the BMI calculation? Codify Subscriber Answer: Calculating BMI is included in the office visit—specifically the physical exam portion of [...]
Are you missing pay for your extra time? No two procedures are exactly the same, especially from an anesthesia perspective, because of the factors involved in different levels of sedation. If a case becomes more involved than expected, you might [...]
Question: Recently, our surgeon performed spinal fusion (22630) on an extremely obese patient. The surgeon feels as though the patient’s weight was a complicating factor in the surgery and subsequent recovery. Can we gain additional compensation for this, perhaps using [...]
Question: Recently, our surgeon performed spinal fusion (22630) on an extremely obese patient. The surgeon feels as though the patients weight was a complicating factor in the surgery and subsequent recovery. Can we gain additional compensation for this, perhaps using [...]
