** The coding information and guidance are valid at the time of publishing. Learners are encouraged to research subsequent official guidance in the areas associated with the topic as they can change rapidly.
Investing in Health Information Education: Assess and Reassess for Success
Publication: Journal of AHIMA
Mary Beth Haugen, MS, RHIA published in the Journal of AHIMA – Investing in Health Information Education: Assess and Reassess for Success.| Read More.
2023 E/M Changes: Processing observation services for Medicare
The 2023 AMA CPT code set brought us many revisions to the E/M guidelines. The good news is that we get to use the same set of guidelines for all E/M services! One of the more significant changes was to the inpatient and observation services codes. The observation...
Webinar Q&A: Making the Rounds: Inpatient E/M Coding
This page addresses follow-up questions and additional information pertinent to our webinar Making the Rounds: Inpatient E/M Coding.** The coding information and guidance are valid at the time of publishing. Learners are encouraged to researchsubsequent official...
Webinar Q&A: Feeling Numb to Professional Fee Anesthesia Coding?
Q: When a post op pain block is billed, should the appropriate anesthesia modifier be added as well, such as AA, or one of the Q modifiers if one of those are applicable?A: No, the CPT codes used for post op pain blocks and ancillary services when done separately...
Anesthesia 01996
Anesthesia 101 01996 What would you code in the following situation? A 58-year-old female patient undergoes a bilateral total knee replacement. After the appropriate recovery room time, she is transferred up to a floor.Because the surgeon feels the patient is going...
Tips & Expertise: Airway, Bronchoscopy, and Codes
Q: Can 31645 be billed when the doctor dictates that “mucous secretions were suctioned out of the lower left lobe”? Does it have to be an abscess or mucous plug that was removed in order to use this code? A: Clearing (e.g., irrigation, aspiration) of mucus...
Tips & Expertise: 2023 CPT Updates for Profee
Q: What about the digital medicine changes?A: We did not cover these in the presentation but check out the new virtual reality codes in your CPT book – codes 0770T, 0771T-0774T. Appendix T, for audio only services is also new; it was released in April of 2022. These...
Tips & Expertise: 2023 CPT Updates for the Facility Coder
Q: I just wanted to clarify that with the new hernia repair codes, if a patient has a reducible and a strangulated hernia repaired at once, both would be coded as strangulated hernias?A: That is correct. The guidelines state the hernia repair would be coded as...
Are you ready for the new CPT hernia repair codes?
Extensive changes have been made to the CPT codes for reporting hernia repairs effective January 1, 2023. This section needed to be revamped to reflect current clinical practices utilized in these procedures. Here is a quick peek at the structure of the new codes:...
Tips & Expertise: Malnutrition
Q: Can facilities create a policy that allows coders to pull documentation from a dietician’s note if it is co-signed by the provider?A: Based on Coding Clinic’s answer in 1Q 2020, page 4, yes. However, Haugen recommends facilities not consider this best practice...