The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has taken steps to overhaul codes used for Evaluation and Management (EM) office visit codes. The initiative aims to reduce documentation burdens that interfere with patient care, the American Medical Association says. The professional organization for the nation’s physicians is providing a series of educational materials to support […]
Q: There seems to be a trend of practices using a variety of staff as ‘educators’ to provide patient education. The more recent ‘twist’ is the billing of E&M codes for non-physician providers, based in either clinical documentation or time-based, under the ‘incident to” provision – even though the physician does not see the patient for these […]
The coding of medical diagnosis and treatment has always been a challenging issue. Translating a patient’s complex symptoms, and a clinician’s efforts to address them, into a clear and unambiguous classification code was difficult even in simpler times. Now, however, hospitals and health insurance companies want very detailed information on what was wrong with a […]
Physicians, paramedics and other healthcare professionals are accustomed to treating medical conditions. But they are also increasingly part of efforts to end human trafficking, according to The Washington Post. According to the United Nations’ International Labor Organization, an estimated 40.3 million people worldwide were being forced to work against their will under threat or living in a forced marriage in 2016. […]
Consideration of several factors, such as the type of removal, lesion size and location, pathologic results, intent, etc., is key to accurately coding dermatological lesion removal procedures. Let’s review the codes and guidelines for lesion removal by excision and how to avoid common mistakes when coding these skin procedures. Excision – Benign/Malignant Lesions (11400-11646) Excision […]
Q: Some of our Medicare patient’s complain about their $20 or so co-pay when we bill ‘Combination visits’, a G0439 Annual Wellness visit codes(AWV) and another Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code for managing their problems during the same visit. Is there a good solution to this issue or any advice to maybe remedy this? A: This […]
The American Medical Association issued a checklist for the transition to fundamental changes in evaluation and management (E/M) services, a medical coding process in support of medical billing which practicing healthcare providers must use to be reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid programs or private insurance. The checklist provides a guide for physician practices, which already are […]
Changes Coming to Office Visit Codes Question: At my family practice’ office visit code, my office manager and I have recently been debating over coding. She reports that the new coding system has changed our typical 99214 visits into 99213s. For example, I see a patient for routine follow-up on three or more chronic conditions. […]
The American Medical Association (AMA) publishes the Current Procedural Terminology code set changes every year, usually in September, for the upcoming new year. The changes impacting CPT 2020 were released on September 4, 2019. There was a total of 394 CPT code changes, of which, 58 affect the surgery center market. 2020 CPT Code Changes […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that, beginning in January 2020, CMS will implement shorter and more frequent HCPCS Level II coding cycles for requests to modify the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) Level II code set. Under the updated procedures, stakeholders will be able to submit code applications on a quarterly basis […]