Archive for the ‘AAPC News’ Category
Monday, March 1st, 2010
Coders and their providers can bone up on coding, regulation, compliance, and billing while earning continuing education units (CEUs) and continuing medical education (CMEs) at AAPC’s 2010 National Conference in Nashville, Tenn. on June 6–9. This annual event draws thousands of attendees including doctors, medical coders, and office/practice managers to connect on the business side of health care. This is the first conference to be approved for 15.75 CME (AMA PRA Category 1™) credits.
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Tags: AAPC, auditors, CEU, CME, Compliance, EHR, EMR, ICD-10-CM, ICD-10-CM roadmap, medical billing, medical coder, medical coding, Nashville, National Conference, physicians, PQRI, Providers, recovery audits, reimbursement
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Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Physicians and Medical Coders Bring Harmony to the Business Side of Health Care in Music City
SALT LAKE CITY — Feb. 15, 2010 — The American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) announced its 2010 National Conference being held at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville, Tennessee on June 6–9. This annual event draws thousands of attendees including doctors, medical coders and office/practice managers to connect on the business side of health care. In addition, for the first time this conference has been approved for 15.75 (CME) AMA PRA category 1 credits. Attendees will enjoy in-depth training, a hands-on anatomy expo and keynote presentations by industry experts. Registration for the conference is now open. Read more »
Tags: CME, coding, ICD-10, ICD-10-CM, physicians, reimbursement
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Friday, February 12th, 2010
In February, 2009, Congress passed and President Obama signed the ARRA Act, mandating implementation of EMR systems meeting meaningful use requirements by 2015 for physician practices that bill Medicare claims. In the past year, I’ve spoken to many physicians that do not want to implement an EMR system and a handful of physicians that have un-installed their EMR system. The fact that so few physicians have currently installed EMR systems (estimated between 20-35 percent have installed), when almost all physicians are aware of them, tells me that many physicians don’t see the benefit vs. the cost. To counter that, the Federal Government will give up to $44,000 for each EMR system installed that meets meaningful use. In other words, the government will force physicians to purchase what many don’t want and then help them pay for it.
Our workshop in March on EMRs will help you and your practice deal with the EMR issues that have plagued us, and it will explain how to get the $44,000 from the government. It also educates coders on the inevitable shift in duties as healthcare becomes fully part of the digital age. The workshop was created by a physician that has been a director of coding, is now director of healthcare revenue cycle management and has gone through a large EMR installation. If you are frustrated with your current EMR or are contemplating one, I believe this is a workshop well worth attending.
Reed E. Pew, CEO
Tags: ARRA, EMR, reed pew
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Thursday, February 11th, 2010
What’s new on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) website is the 2010 update of ICD-10-CM. This latest update replaces the 2009 release. Read more »
Tags: CDC, GEM files, ICD-10, ICD-10 conversion, ICD-10 implementation, ICD-10 preparation, learning ICD-10, NCHS
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Monday, January 4th, 2010
By Rhonda Buckholtz, CPMA, CPC-I, CGSC, COBGC, CPEDC, CENTC
Even though at this point it is hard to see down the road, there are many anticipated benefits of ICD-10-CM. One of the major benefits in moving to ICD-10-CM is that providers will have the ability to better describe new diseases and new understanding of diseases such as diabetes, HIV, injuries and external causes, drugs and neoplasms. ICD-10 will allow expertise in clinical classification and terminology that will assist in the use of clinical terminologies in electronic health records as well as provide international compatibility. ICD-9-CM is over thirty years old; it is outdated and there is no room for future expansion. Read more »
Tags: ICD-10, ICD-10-CM, ICD-9
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Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Jillian Harrington,
ICD-10 Curriculum Team
American Academy of Professional Coders
One of the questions I receive most often when out and speaking with people in the compliance community about ICD-10 is “What can we do to get started?”. Compliance professionals are in an interesting situation, as they are not typically the main starting point for operational issues such as these. However, an early start to becoming compliant with the ICD-10 code sets, either as a provider or a payer is obviously of great importance to all compliance staff. Read more »
Tags: CMS, ICD-10, ICD-10-CM, ICD-9, ICD-9-CM, NCHS
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Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Deborah Grider, CPC, CPC-H, CPC-I, CPC-P, CPMA, CEMC, COBGC, CPCD, CCS-P
Vice President, Strategic Development
American Academy of Professional Coders
Recently, I traveled to Washington and was given the privilege to attend and participate representing the AAPC in listening session with various industry leaders in December in the country including AHIP, AHA, AMA, Blue Cross Blue Shield, CMS, and many other organizations regarding the problems and challenges the industry faces when implementing ICD-10. Every organization present during the session was asked to identify key challenges when facing the enormous task of ICD-10 implementation. The most concerning area is that most organizations including health plans, hospitals, physicians and medical practices and many others assume that HHS will push back the implementation date and most have not begun to start the process of discovery and understanding of ICD-10 with their organization. In fact the consensus from the industry that most were ignoring the ICD-10 mandate for now. One of the most significant areas of concern was business process changes which will impact every organization and ICD-10 training. Getting ready for ICD-10 is the most significant change that our industry will experience in decades. Read more »
Tags: CMS, CPT, Health care, ICD-10, ICD-10-CM, ICD-9, ICD-9-CM
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Thursday, December 17th, 2009
Two industry-leading sources in medical coding join forces to offer ICD-10 implementation training to providers, outpatient clinics and health plans in preparation for the 2013 compliance deadline
SALT LAKE CITY—Dec. 17, 2009— The American Academy of Professional Coders and Ingenix today announced a collaborative training effort that will ensure physician practices, outpatient clinics and health plans are properly prepared to implement ICD-10 medical coding systems by the Oct. 1, 2013 compliance deadline set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The programs, which include on-site, Web-based and group training sessions, will be available beginning January 2010. They were developed by a team of experts led by nationally renowned ICD-10 authority Deborah Grider, CPC, CPC-I, CPC-H, CPC-P. Read more »
Tags: CMS, ICD-10, ICD-10-CM, ICD-9, ICD-9-CM
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Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
Customized, three-day training designed to enable clean transition to new coding system
SALT LAKE CITY—Dec. 15, 2009—The American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) today announced the availability of on-site, customizable ICD-10-CM implementation training for health plans across the country beginning January. Developed specifically for health plans by a team of health care, coding and reimbursement experts, the on-site trainings are designed to enable any organization to systematically and effectively make the switch to ICD-10.
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Tags: ICD-10, ICD-10-CM, ICD-9, ICD-9-CM
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Friday, December 4th, 2009
Registration open for national conference, workshops and webinars
SALT LAKE CITY — Dec. 3, 2009 — Registration is now open for many of the American Academy of Professional Coders’ (AAPC, www.aapc.com) 2010 continuing education events, including the annual national conference, quarterly workshops and ongoing webinar series. Spots are available on a first come, first served basis.
National Conference
- June 6-9, 2010 at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn.
- Features eight breakout tracks with 60 educational sessions to choose from, including an anatomy expo, keynote presentations and a local chapter showcase
- $100 early-bird discount through March 15, 2010; price increases to $795 after March 15
Workshops
- Offered in 53 cities across the country in March, May, August and October
- Four of the most needed and popular topics, including EMRs, identifying leaks in your healthcare revenue cycle, performing internal audits and Medicare compliance
- A complete listing of locations and dates is available at
www.aapc.com/medical-coding-education/workshops/index.aspx
Webinars
- More than 40 events available live or on demand
- Topics will cover a variety of timely coding issues, and will include sessions for both beginning and more advanced coders
- A complete listing of topics and schedule is available at
www.aapc.com/medical-coding-education/webinars/index.aspx
For more information on all 2010 continuing education events, please visit http://www.aapc.com/medical-coding-education/index.aspx or call 800-236-2200.
Registration will begin in April 2010 for the AAPC’s regional conference in Springfield, Mass. Oct. 7-9, 2010.
Tags: education, EMR
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