Reconstruct Your Breast Cancer Coding

October is breast cancer awareness month! Breast cancer is a disease in which cells in the breast grow out of control. The kind of breast cancer depends on which cells in the breast turn into cancer.  Breast cancer can occur in any of the three main areas of the...

Tips & Expertise: 2023 IPPS Updates

Q:  Can you summarize how MS-DRG grouper logic works?A:  The first step in grouping an MS-DRG is the assign the case to a major diagnostic category (MDC). This is done by classifying the principal diagnosis into one of 25 MDCs based on body system and case similarity....

Behind the Mystery of the Biliary Tree

The liver, gallbladder, and pancreas play important roles in digestion through the release of bile and digestive enzymes. The ductwork that connects these organs to each other and ultimately to the alimentary canal of the gastrointestinal tract, is often a mysterious...

Tips & Expertise: 2023 ICD-10-CM Updates

Q:  Does acute/chronic respiratory acidosis really code as acute/chronic respiratory failure? Can a code for respiratory acidosis be reported with the respiratory failure codes?A:  Yes, that is how it is indexed in ICD-10-CM. There is an Exclude2 note for code E87.29,...

Tips & Expertise: 2023 ICD-10-PCS Updates

Q:  When should the new qualifier M for Monoclonal Antibody in the 3E0 table be used? Can it be used to report cancer or COVID MAB therapy?A:  The qualifier M for Monoclonal Antibody is only available when the 6th character substance value C, Other Therapeutic...

Tips & Expertise: CPT Coding for Wound Repair

Q: How do you code for a through and through lip laceration when the mucosa, subcutaneous tissue, and skin are all repaired? Can you report code 40650 with a code for the skin repair?​A: Assign only code 40650 for repair of a through and through lip laceration. This...

Haugen Academy’s Guide to the 2023 E/M Changes

Haugen Academy’s Guide to the 2023 E/M Changes Shea Lunt, RHIA, CPC, CPMA, PMP Consultant Shea is a consultant for The Haugen Consulting Group with 11 years of health care industry experience. Shea has experience working on the professional fee side of coding,...

The Wonders of Wound Care Coding

Last year’s wound care webinars dove into the proper coding of wound care and offered several resources.  We received so many fantastic follow-up questions that we felt it would be best to share and elaborate on them in another webinar.  Questions surrounding...

Foot and Ankle: Don’t get your tendons in a Wad!

​For many years I struggled coding foot and ankle procedures. I would ask myself: “Is this tendon a flexor or is it an extensor?” “Hmm... what does it do?”  “Is this a ligament or is this a tendon?”    Of course, back then we didn’t have internet and had to utilize...

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