Posts Tagged ‘Compliance’
Friday, August 20th, 2010
By David Behinfar, JD, LLM, CHC, CIPP
It has been over seven years since the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule became effective for most covered entities. As public awareness of health care privacy issues has increased since 2003, efforts at privacy rule enforcement also have accelerated. One consequence is that it is much easier for health care workers—including coders—to find themselves in a privacy officer’s crosshairs.
Before I share my advice on how to avoid the wrath of your friendly local privacy officer, let’s discuss factors leading to greater awareness and enforcement of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Read more »
Tags: CMS, Compliance, hipaa, OCR, patient information, privacy
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Thursday, August 12th, 2010
AAPC member Kerrin Draak, MS, WHNP-BC, CPC, CEMC, COBGC, discussed reimbursement issues surrounding some of the newer GYN procedures and the need for coders in this specialty to become familiar with these new procedures to accurately report and receive reimbursement for these cases.
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Tags: Coding, Compliance, ICD-9, reimbursement
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Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Deborah Grider CPC, CPC-H, CPC-I, CPC-P, CPMA, CEMC, COBGC, CPCD, CCS-P, AAPC president and CEO discusses the new and upcoming challenges coders face in today’s health care environment.
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Tags: Audit, CMS, Coding, Compliance, ICD-10
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Thursday, August 12th, 2010
This article is a reprint of a Physicians Practice article on solving the biggest billing blunders. The article includes quotes from Rhonda Buckholtz, CPC, CPMA, CPC-I, CGSC, COBGC, CPEDC, CENTC, vice president of business and member development for AAPC. She shares tips on improving documentation specificity to ensure proper coding and billing.
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Tags: Billing, Coding, Compliance, documentation
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Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Rhonda Buckholtz, CPC, CPMA, CPC-I, CGSC, COBGC, CPEDC, CENTC, vice president of business and member development for AAPC, shares her experience regarding physicians who are not intimately aware of insurer contracts and how this can affect the practice when insures come looking to recoup funds. She shares some tips to help prepare practices in the event this occurs.
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Tags: Audit, Compliance, physicians
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Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Deborah Grider, CPC, CPC-H, CPC-I, CPC-P, CPMA, CEMC, COBGC, CPCD, CCS-P, AAPC president and CEO, discusses the move to ICD-10-CM codes and the need for physicians to start preparing for it now.
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Tags: Audit, Coding, Compliance, ICD-10, RAC
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Thursday, July 15th, 2010
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released July 12 a special edition MLN Matters article (SE1024), “Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Demonstration High-Risk Vulnerabilities – No Documentation or Insufficient Documentation Submitted.” The article is the first of a series providing information on RAC high-dollar improper payment vulnerabilities.
According to the article, “While the demonstration proved recovery auditing was successful identifying and correcting improper payments in Medicare, it also provided best practices for developing a national program and allowed CMS to identify high risk vulnerabilities.”
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Tags: Audit, audits, CMS, Compliance, FI, MAC, Providers, RAC, Recovery Audit Contractor, SNF
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Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
AAPC member Betty Johnson, CPC, CPC-I, CPC, CPC-I, CCS-P, PCS, RMC, CIC, CCP, CPC-H, CDERC, shares in-depth advice on how to determine the proper codes for pressure ulcers or bed sores. This article is not available online but can be found on page 14 of the June/July issues of BC Advantage.
Tags: Coding, Compliance, Health care, ICD-9
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Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
AAPC member Jacqueline Thelian, CPC, CPC-I, shares tips on how practices can prepare for ICD-10 and get the implementation ball rolling now.
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Tags: CMS, Compliance, ICD-10, reimbursement
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Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Disease classification has been around for centuries. In today’s modern world, disease classification is important to everything from research funding, to reporting, to health care claim submission. AAPC member Angela “Annie” Boynton, RHIT, CPC, CCS, CPC-H, CCS-P, CPC-P, CPC-I, discusses diagnostic and procedure codes and the need for advanced planning for ICD-10 to ensure a healthy transition. This article is not available online but can be found in the June issue of Health Cost Management.
Tags: Coding, Compliance, ICD-10, reimbursement
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