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Briefings on APCs Briefings on Coding Compliance Strategies Briefings on HIPAA HIM Briefings

Submitting improper Medicare documentation can lead to denial of fees, payback, fines, and increased diligence from payers. Let BOCCS help you avoid fraud and stay in compliance.
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2001
Issue 12, December 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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Bring ancillary coding into the mix
Many health information management (HIM) departments serve as centralized coding offices. By also... -
Coding Q&A
The mission of this BCCS monthly supplement is to help you find answers to your urgent coding... -
Hunting those elusive inpatient consult charges
Hospitals use clerks, chart abstraction, and templatesThe Office of Inspector General (OIG) is... -
Simplify coding to cut down confusion
Four steps to help coders see the big pictureWhen you’re in the middle of a pile of... -
Syncope: A dizzying coding subject
By Robert S. Gold, MDAn admission presentation of “syncope” should rarely result in a...
Issue 11, November 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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Coding Q&A
The mission of this BCCS monthly supplement is to help you find answers to your urgent coding... -
Coding work flow: Smoothing out your process for better productivity and quali
Your coding staff members’ workflow of can dramatically affect their efficiency... -
Documentation improvement: a large, gray elephant
by Robert S. Gold, MDEvery blind man has a different way to describe an elephant. I’d like... -
Managing medical necessity
Changing rules, new ABN require refresher “Pay it right,” is the mantra of the... -
NCCI: Proper use of edits, modifiers essential to good compliance and reimburse
The National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI), a Medicare effort rolled out in 1996, allows for... -
No shortage of coding initiatives in 2003 OIG Work Plan
Old favorites return, with changesThe 2003 Work Plan, released last month by the Office of...
Issue 10, October 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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Establishing coder pay levels
Establishing coder pay levels -
How to get paid for radiology
How to get paid for radiology -
Screaming about screening
Screaming about screening -
Understand and manage your CMI from a coding perspective
The importance of validating your case-mix index (CMI) from a coding perspective cannot be stressed...
Issue 9, September 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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Are you considering a coder incentive pay program?
Texas hospital rewards quality over productivityWith the increasing emphasis on accurate... -
Coding Q&A
The mission of this BCCS monthly supplement is to help you find answers to your urgent coding... -
Get your coders HIPAA-ready
An August report published by the General Accounting Office says for now, dual code sets are... -
Hints for transactions and code sets compliance
Two-thirds of organizations are lagging in a key Health Insurance Portability and Accountability... -
Managing Medicare’s 72-hour rule
How two hospitals handle combining inpatient and outpatient accountsYou know that outpatient... -
Pleural effusions—when to code, when not to, and why
By Robert S. Gold, MDOn my most recent tour of audits, I found evidence that a little in sight...
Issue 8, August 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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Coding and cash: Setting up a productivity reward plan
Many hospitals have problems finding and keeping qualified coders. Some facilities are... -
Coding IR procedures: Don’t leave money on the table!
When it comes to interventional radiology (IR), technology is evolving faster than the... -
Creating a clinical documentation improvement program
If your piecemeal efforts at documentation improvement haven’t brought about the results you... -
Recovering from a PATH audit
The federal initiative to verify compliance with the Medicare rules governing payment to... -
Renal disease: Failure or insufficiency?
by Robert S. Gold, MDEnd-stage renal disease (ESRD) offers clinicians at most facilities...
Issue 7, July 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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CMS announces ICD-9-CM code changes for 2003
Focus on aftercare, heart failure, OB/GYN conditionsThe Centers for Medicare & Medicaid... -
Consider these items before going to remote coding
“It’s no secret that there’s a shortage of qualified coders,” says Carole... -
ICD-9-CM codes for 2003
Editor’s note: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published the proposed... -
Insights into coding outpatient breast procedures
by Robert S. Gold, MDAs an auditor, I have seen confusion regarding the proper coding of the... -
OIG Orange Book released
More help to focus your compliance effortsA “compendium, of significant, un... -
Preventing mammography claim denials
Use your hospital’s coding experience to help your clinicIf your hospital has a mammography...
Issue 6, June 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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Coding Q&A
The mission of this BCCS monthly supplement is to help you find answers to your urgent coding... -
Developing a documentation policy
Best practices for getting content essential for codingAll coders know that good documentation is... -
Don’t let your encoder lead you in the wrong coding direction
by Robert S. Gold, MDMost of the time, encoder software is a wonderful adjunct to the difficult... -
End in sight for coder shortage?
Variety of programs help to attract new coders into the marketMany hospitals continue to struggle... -
Survey: Chargemasters neglected
Accuracy requires maintenance training, greater concernEditor’s note: The following is based...
Issue 5, May 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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Back to the basics: Coding for pneumonia
Pneumonia is the fourth most common reason for hospitalization for adults over age 65, and many of... -
New CMS memos toss more changes into the 2002 OPPS rules
Two memos released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in late March add... -
Proposed privacy changes affect consent and marketing
The proposed changes to the privacy rule under HIPAA brought sighs of relief in health... -
Recognizing respiratory failure
by Robert S. Gold, MD, and Glenn Krauss, RHIAWith all of the codes now available for... -
Understanding HIV/AIDS coding
Variety of factors affect accurate codingUnfortunately, with 40 million cases worldwide the...
Issue 4, April 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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Bringing on a new coder
HIPAA, performance, experience all come into playAs health information management (HIM) takes on a... -
Education v. productivity: What’s your priority?
by Glenn Krauss, RHIAThe early and mid-1990s brought tremendous change to the field of coding as... -
Clinically Speaking: Some obs observations
by Robert S. Gold, MDYou can now bill under the new APC 0339, which covers observation services... -
Understanding provider-based status
Billing, bundling, and complying with the ‘obligations’The implementation of...
Issue 3, March 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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Handling SNF therapy billing
How codes can help therapists, SNF staffTime-based v. service-based codes . . . progress notes... -
Clinically Speaking: Higher aspirations
by Robert S. Gold, MDIn the many audits I have done, “aspiration” is a term that has... -
Outpatient services: Which ones generate codes to report?
Services, procedures you can and should claimWith the ongoing changes regarding APCs...
Issue 2, February 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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Clinically Speaking: An interesting case of varices: How it happened, and how t
By Robert S. Gold, MDWhen you discharge a patient after an admission for bleeding esophageal... -
Getting it all down—improving physician documentation
Physician documentation continues to be the bane of coding professionals across the country. In... -
Semiannual Report
Reimbursement issues related to skilled nursing facilities, physicians at teaching hospitals... -
Uncovering new coders
Two hospitals establish unique methods to minimize their coding backlogCoding from home, sign-on...
Issue 1, January 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE
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Clarifications, restructuring set to make CPT more user-friendly
Clarifications, restructuring set to make CPT more user-friendly -
Ancillary care issues
Ancillary care issues -
28 ways to improve coding compliance in 2002
28 ways to improve coding compliance in 2002 -
The finer points of using the new APC for observation services
The finer points of using the new APC for observation services -
Coding for procedures on paired organs
inically Speaking: To modify or not to modify?Coding for procedures on paired organsby Robert S... -
Coding for procedures on paired organs.
Final version, we hope...... ---> Clinically Speaking: To modify or not to modify? Coding...