Blog & Publications
Find the latest news from the Haugen Consulting Group. Check back frequently for updates.
Is your organization worried about wound care coding?
Blog Post: Digging into HIM & Coding
One of the most difficult and misunderstood diagnostic coding types is that of a wound care clinic. Often managers lump these types of charts into clinic coding and expect productivity to be just as high. Ask any wound care coder and they’ll tell you that a wound care chart is one of the most confusing case types out there.
Most of the conditions treated in wound care clinic are chronic, nonhealing ulcers, yet the clinic is called wound care – not ulcer care – which is just the beginning of the confusion. Patients are often seen weekly, and the severity of their wounds (ulcers) can improve, deteriorate, or remain stagnant week to week. Many coders are unsure how to code these charts. What type of wound is being evaluated? How does the wound look this week? How, exactly, is the wound being treated? | Read More.
Tips & Expertise: Do your ICD-10-CM Codes Tell the Patient Story Webinar Q&A
Q: There’s an assumed cause and effect relationship between diabetes and peripheral artery disease, but what about coronary artery disease? Do we make the link between CAD and diabetes? A: No. Diabetes has a causal relationship with peripheral vascular disease. ...
Tips & Expertise: CPT Coding for Shoulder Procedures Webinar Q&A
Q: Would you please explain the difference between a hemiarthroplasty and prosthetic replacement?A: A hemi would only be one component, whereas a total would be two components. Q: Please provide your reference for your measurements. The AMA stated measurements...
Coding Check Up: How Are Your PVD Coding Skills?
Blog Post: Digging into HIM & Coding
If you’ve been keeping up to date on your Coding Clinic subscription and coding guidelines, you know that coding advice for COVID-19 keeps changing. As coders, we know it’s imperative to keep our eyes peeled for new codes, updated guidance, and evolving disease processes, but COVID-19 has taken this to a new level with changing advice on a bimonthly basis. And just in case you are about to stop reading here thinking you are current on COVID, beware: the CDC isn’t done messing with codes related to COVID-19. | Read More.
Tips & Expertise: Oh Baby! Diagnostic OB Coding for ICD-10-PCS Webinar Q&A
Q: Would you use laminaria qualifier on the abortion table for the use of a synthetic osmotic dilator such as Dilapan-S? A: Dilapan-S has a similar action on cervical dilation as laminaria insertion. Haugen Consulting Group recommends using the qualifier...
Don’t Sleep on Shoulder Procedures!
Is coding for shoulder procedures keeping you up at night? Don’t worry, it happens to many of us! Over the years, I have become pretty comfortable with these procedures, so I thought I would share some insights that may be helpful. I am sure you have heard the...
Interested in Information Blocking?
Blog Post: Digging into HIM & Coding
Information Blocking has been making headlines for nearly a year now. On April 5th, 2021, the Information Blocking provision of the 21st Century Cures Act went into effect, but you may still be asking yourself “what is information blocking?”. The 21st Century Cures Act, passed in December 2016, largely focused on National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for research and drug development, to streamline the drug approval process. But a portion of the legislation focuses on empowering patients to take ownership of their healthcare, in part by ensuring expedient access to the electronic health information (EHI). The term information blocking was coined; defined as any practice that is likely to impede access to, the exchange of, or use of EHI. Continue reading to learn more about this hot topic! | Read More.
Why You Should be Coding ICD-10-PCS Blood Transfusion Codes for OB Patients
Blog Post: Digging into HIM & Coding
The best, but not necessarily most efficient, way to determine if anyone is using coded data is to stop coding it. At times it seems no one is paying attention to what we code as long as they get what they need, but if you stop coding what they need, things start emerging that you didn’t anticipate. Case in point: the impact blood transfusion procedure coding has on quality measures. | Read More.
Tips & Expertise: PCS Coding for Spinal Fusions Advanced Webinar Q&A
Q: We were originally educating the coders at our facility to code removal of internal fixation device from the joint per Coding Clinic 2Q 2017 pgs. 23-24 however a correction was issued in Coding Clinic 2Q2019 that states to use body part of vertebrae. But you’re...
Tips & Expertise: CPT Coding for Fractures Webinar Q&A
Q: Most of the time my provider doesn’t tell me if a fracture is displaced, so based on what you said early in your presentation, the default is displaced. Is that correct? A: yes, that’s absolutely correct. I would however try to encourage them to document this...
News Archives
Take advantage of our previous shares. Our library is packed with great information.