ICD-10 Monitor’s Talk Ten Tuesday broadcast this week included an interview with Anita Archer, CPC, who gave an overview of her 12 key steps to a successful ICD-10 transition. She noted that the delay of ICD-10 caused many providers to stop making implementation preparations. Ms. Archer went on to explain that many of these same providers are picking things back up again now, but preparations still need to be kept simple and timely. She advocated a “divide and conquer” approach, to have individual department managers determine what changes need to be made in their area, how much training is needed, etc.
“With coordinated effort… we can actually accomplish the goal and have our providers and practices ready for this new code set,” she said.
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May 15th, 2013
Medicare rules for coding colonoscopy differ from American Medical Association (AMA) rules, particularly with regard to “incomplete” colonoscopies. For a better explanation of the differences, AAPC’s Managing Editor G. John Verhovshek, MA, CPC, recently published an article through the California Medical Association.
“Some non-Medicare payers may follow CMS guidelines for an incomplete colonoscopy (modifier 53), while others may adhere to CPT® instructions (modifier 52),” he says. “Check with your third-party payers for their recommendations.”
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May 10th, 2013
Documentation is more important than ever. Barbara Aubry, RN, CPC, CHCQM, FAIHCQ, recently authored an article for Advance for Health Information Professionals, in which she tracks healthcare industry movements from a regulatory perspective. In the article Ms. Aubry specifically analyzes actions recently taken by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the OIG’s studies of evaluation and management (E/M) code use.
“[The OIG has] identified 1,700 individual physicians who consistently bill higher-level E/M codes,” she notes. “If you have any concern about your practice’s E/M coding or your hospital’s E/M coding, it’s time to take action.”
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May 2nd, 2013
ICD-10 Monitor’s Talk Ten Tuesday broadcast this week included an interview with AAPC’s Vice President of ICD-10 Education and Training Rhonda Buckholtz, CPC, CPMA, CPC-I, CGSC, COBGC, CPEDC, CENTC, who explained how to avoid productivity issues after implementation.
“[Providers] really need to get moving now in order to get everything accomplished that they’re going to have to get done to get their claims paid once October 1 of 2014 comes around,” she said.
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May 1st, 2013
Knowing where to begin ICD-10 testing can be a challenge. AAPC’s ICD-10 Specialist Jackie Stack, BSHA, CPC, CPC-I, CEMC, CFPC, CIMC, CPEDC, CCP-P, recommends making a testing plan now in an article she recently published in Physicians Practice. Ms. Stack points out that significant time and resources will be needed to complete ICD-10 testing.
“Provider practices will want to test with many entities such as payers, practice management systems, billing companies, and clearinghouses,” she says. “There are many types of testing such as quality assurance, user acceptance, integration, regression, performance and end-to-end.”
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April 18th, 2013