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Briefings on Coding Compliance Strategies

Issue 12, December 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Inside the ICD-9 Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting

  Fifth digits, updates of descriptive language, and code organization were all part of the diagnosis...

• Increase coding productivity without overtime or more coders

  Imagine being assigned to "find" $20-$40 million dollars, or 1%-2%, of your organization's bottom...

• Automated coding: Coming to a facility near you

  Part one of a two-part series Automated coding is a loaded subject for most coding...

• Code or query?

  Physicians' terms and phrases often don't match the language you need to apply certain ICD-9 codes...

• Concurrent coding can work

  Concurrent coding-coding a patient's record while the patient is still in house-is an effort many...

Issue 11, November 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Work OIG's Work Plan into your coding compliance efforts

  Much of the 2005 Work Plan, released by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) on October 12...

• Making the grade: Firm identifies nation's top coding hospitals

  "We're trying to validate and recognize the central role coding plays in today's hospital-from both...

• Validate your audit findings for best compliance results

  "Having a compliance plan and having a valid, effective compliance plan are two different things...

• Calcium metabolism conditions more common than you might think

  Documentation and coding for calcium metabolism comes up infrequently, so we may have trouble...

• Prepare now for more quality indicators, potential bonus pay

  Now that the reality of reporting quality indicators to CMS has sunk in for most providers, the...

Issue 10, October 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Five essentials about revenue coding to help with compliance

  Incorrect or missing revenue codes could wreak havoc on your Medicare logs and affect your...

• Medicare call centers struggling

  Only 4% of the responses the Government Accountability Office (GAO) received during 300 test calls...

• Electronic records: What's good for a facility isn't necessarily good for coders

  Despite the numerous potential benefits electronic records offer, do your homework to ensure that...

• 507.0: A new look at an old code

  familiar with the code 507.0. They use it in cases of aspiration pneumonia-which is appropriate-but...

• Kansas kicks up its E coding compliance rate

  The compliance rate for E code reporting in Kansas only hit 56% in 1997. After a concentrated and...

Issue 9, September 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• New codes in final IPPS rule reflect technology, better descriptions

  On October 1, when the new ICD-9-CM diagnosis and procedure codes listed in the inpatient...

• Severity: Documentation, effective queries, and the coder's role

  Severity of illness is the latest catch-22 for coders: Your coding can only capture an accurate...

• Pneumonia problems persist

  In the mid-1990s, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) determined that dozens of hospitals were...

• SNOMED CT: The language of choice for software vendors

  Editor's note: This is part two of a two-part series. In the August BCCS, we provided an overview...

• Coding Q&A

  The mission of this BCCS monthly supplement is to help you find answers to your urgent coding...

Issue 8, August 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Coding outsourcing common, but not perfect system

  Coding outsourcing is here to stay, says Jean Stone, RHIT, CCS. That fact recently lead her to...

• SNOMED CT and its partnership in the electronic medical record

  Part one of a two-part series SNOMED CT, the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical...

• A vendor perspective: Lessons for coders, physicians, and hospitals

  When you work closely on a project day after day, it can be hard to take a step back and see the...

• Clinical documentation improvement needs clinical direction

  When an HIM professional asks a physician, "What kind of anemia does this patient have?" the...

Issue 7, July 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Benefit by separating coding and abstracting responsibilities

  If your coders spend more time abstracting their medical records than coding them, consider...

• Diabetes coding: Query for complete documentation, correct codes

  To accurately code diabetes, coders must know whether the patient has Type I or Type II, whether it...

• Internal coding agency reduces outsourcing needs, improves employee retention

  A shortage of experienced coders and a pricey dependence on contract coders led The Medical College...

• Get to know long-term acute care

  The concept of long-term acute care (LTAC) is not new, but the federal government only recently...

• Probe your physician coding profiles

  Evaluating your physician coding profiles often results in improved compliance and increased...

Issue 6, June 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• IPPS proposed rule links quality and reimbursement

  The inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) for 2005 includes a host of new and revised...

• Survey says coding profession today involves more than coding

  Incomplete records, illegible clinician handwriting, and everchanging Medicare regulations present...

• Understand how coding affects severity

  The current healthcare environment has forced hospital administrators to start paying more...

• Attorneys answer round-up of audit queries

  Editor's note: This is second in a two-part series. The following is based on a session held during...

• Coding Q&A

  The mission of this BCCS monthly supplement is to help you find answers to your urgent coding...

Issue 5, May 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• QIOs target coding accuracy, medical necessity under HPMP

  Ensuring coding accuracy and medical necessity is the primary objective of the Hospital Payment...

• Attorneys answer questions about carrier bids, liability insurance, more

  Editor's note: This is part one in a two-part series. This month follows a session held during the...

• Indiana health system offers intense coding training program

  Many facilities hunt high and low for qualified, experienced coders, but with little success...

• Don't get lost in translation

  Physicians are turned off by queries that include terms they don't typically use. You're more...

• Seven steps to savvy chargemaster upkeep

  Confusing and contradictory rules and regulations are easy to come by when working with Medicare...

• Coding Q&A

  The mission of this BCCS monthly supplement is to help you find answers to your urgent coding...

Issue 4, April 1, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• No grace period could mean more stress, noncompliant claims

  HIPAA rules have eliminated the 90-day grace periods for HCPCS, CPT, and ICD-9 code changes. How...

• CC coding rates climb

  Coding of complications and comorbidities (CC) was up in 2002 for the first time in five years...

• Terminology affects hospital severity scores

  We've concentrated on reimbursement for far too long in the HIM arena, usually because the finance...

• Reverse the process to help physicians with coding

  Explaining coding to physicians is like explaining how a lock works rather than simply handing over...

• Coding Q&A

  The mission of this BCCS monthly supplement is to help you find answers to your urgent coding...

Issue 3, March 12, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Prioritize writing or updating your coding policies and procedures

  When sending contractors to facilities, Ann Waters, RHIT, CCS, coding consultant and owner of a...

• Software snafu means rocky start to 2004 for post-acute care DRGs

  For the first five weeks of 2004, payments for discharges and transfers under the inpatient...

• Roundtables offer networking, education, consistency

  Getting coders to participate in monthly coding roundtables can be difficult. Getting them to come...

• Which came first-and does it really matter?

  There are many coding guidelines to follow when selecting a principal diagnosis, but once in a...

• Coding Q&A

  The mission of this BCCS monthly supplement is to help you find answers to your urgent coding...

Issue 2, February 12, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• TCS update: Facilities faltering when payers become problematic

  Three months after the October 16, 2003, HIPAA transactions and code sets (TCS) implementation...

• It's never too early: Start planning now for ICD-10 implementation

  Y2K and HIPAA were both strong indicators that preparing for ICD-10 implementation should be a key...

• Coding and billing link beneficial for IL system

  Logic would indicate that coding and billing go hand in hand. However, team efforts between these...

• Primary and secondary conditions primer

  Documentation often makes it tough to determine whether the physician is referencing a primary or...

• Weaning physicians off the pen

  When Christopher Johnson, MD, MPH, was an intern at St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco, he...

• Coding Q&A

  The mission of this BCCS monthly supplement is to help you find answers to your urgent coding...

Issue 1, January 14, 2004 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Resolve to update, improve your coding auditing process in 2004

  Regular, effective auditing of your coding compliance is one of the most important things you can...

• Medicare prescription drug bill to increase ICD-9 code updates

  The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, signed into law on...

• Which line is it anyway? Peripheral, tunneled, or totally implanted

  Sometimes, it's difficult to determine what kind of line was inserted into a patient and whether it...

• Prove medical necessity for gastric reimbursement

  Many make a New Year's resolution to lose weight, but most don't seek the risky gastric bypass...

• Coding Q&A

  The mission of this BCCS monthly supplement is to help you find the answers to your urgent coding...