ICD-10 Monitor’s Talk Ten Tuesday this week focused on AAPC’s National Conference in Orlando, FL. Multiple AAPC experts were interviewed, including two members of the National Advisory Board, Annie Boynton, CPC, CPC-H, CPC-P, CPC-I, RHIT, CCS, CCS-P, CPhT, and Stephen Spain, MD, FAAFP, CPC, along with AAPC’s Director of ICD-10 Development and Training Betty A. Hovey, BA, CPC, CPC-I, CPC-H, CPCD, CCS-P, PCS, CCP, CIC, RMC.
The speakers addressed ICD-10 implementation strategies and challenges from different industry viewpoints, including health plans, physicians, and legal/compliance elements.
This week’s broadcast also revealed the interesting results of the participant survey, asking attendees what internal aspect of ICD-10 is putting physicians most at-risk for implementation. An astounding 57 percent said “Education and Training” was the biggest physician concern.
Listen to the archived podcast.
April 17th, 2013
Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) are a key component of electronic health records (EHRs) and work in concert with other clinical vocabularies in a variety of healthcare applications. AAPC’s Patricia S. Wilson, RT(R), CPC, PMP, recently published an article with Amy Sheide, RN, BSN, MPH, in the Journal of AHIMA, in which they expound on what medical coders need to know regarding LOINC.
“Although a coder probably will never see or ‘code’ with an actual LOINC code, it provides meaning to the information a coder uses every day,” the authors explain. “As a health records coder or other coding-related professional, understanding the purpose and use of LOINC adds value as organizations manage their electronic health data.
Read the full article.
April 16th, 2013
A recent “Ask the Expert” section in For the Record offers insight given by AAPC’s Director of Exam Content Raemarie Jimenez, CPC, CPMA, CPC-I, CANPC, CRHC. Ms. Jimenez replies to a question regarding how transitional care management affects pharmacists in hospitalist groups.
“To report the transitional care codes, the clinical staff needs to be directed by the provider,” she explains.
Read the full Q&A.
April 10th, 2013
ICD-10 Monitor’s Talk Ten Tuesday interviews this week included AAPC’s Vice President of ICD-10 Education and Training Rhonda Buckholtz, CPC, CPMA, CPC-I, CGSC, COBGC, CPEDC, CENTC, who discussed physician involvement in ICD-10 training.
“A lot of providers… know that they need to make the transition but they’re overwhelmed with where to start,” Ms. Buckholtz said. “We’ve just opened up our ICD-10 Implementation Tracker tool to the public… to help get these providers ready and give them a sense of where they can actually start on the implementation process.”
Maria Bounos, RN, CPC-H, was also interviewed in the podcast and noted the same concern, saying that a lack of physician cooperation was the primary obstacle to ICD-10 preparation.
“It could lead to one or two years of losses financially for an organization, post-implementation, if they’re not ready,” Ms. Bounos explained.
Listen to the archived podcast.
April 3rd, 2013
Many evaluation and management (E/M) service codes distinguish between “new” and “established” patients. To help distinguish between the two and to clarify several common scenarios, AAPC’s Managing Editor G. John Verhovshek, MA, CPC, recently published an article through the California Medical Association.
“A patient is new if he or she has not received a face-to-face, professional service from the provider, or a provider of the same specialty/subspecialty in a group practice, within the previous 36 months,” he says.
Read the full article.