Category: Medical Coding

New Procedure Codes Coming This Fall

New Procedure Codes Coming This Fall

Look for them at a hospital near you. The ICD-10-PCS update for fiscal year 2023 is now available. To prevent coding errors that result in claim denials, inpatient coders should download the code files and familiarize themselves with the changes to inpatient coding that go into effect Oct. 1. The fiscal year (FY) 2023 ICD-10-PCS […]
Regulations Open Doors for Telehealth Services in FQHCs

Regulations Open Doors for Telehealth Services in FQHCs

Make sure your facility is aware of all the Medicare policy changes that permit payment for expanded services. Telehealth as a healthcare delivery platform has been in existence since the late 1960s. It was first introduced through projects initiated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Nebraska Psychology Institute. The declaration of […]
Preventive Medicine Versus E&M Codes

Preventive Medicine Versus E&M Codes

Choosing a proper office visit code can become confusing unless one understands the rules separating preventive medicine and evaluation and management (E&M) coding. Problem-oriented E&M services, office, and other outpatient visit codes 99202-99215 (along with hospital, observation, and consultative encounters) are for patients who present with signs, symptoms, conditions, diagnoses and/or problems that need to […]
Don’t Overlook These New PLA Codes

Don’t Overlook These New PLA Codes

A quarterly update for the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), issued May 4, includes nine new CPT® codes for proprietary laboratory analyses (PLAs). Medical coding and billing staff that process claims for lab testing should be aware of these codes and pricing. 9 New PLA Codes The following PLA (type of service 5) codes are […]
How to Build ICD-10-PCS Codes From Op Reports

How to Build ICD-10-PCS Codes From Op Reports

Arrive at the correct procedure code by breaking down the operative report. Even seasoned coding professionals occasionally find it challenging to assign the appropriate ICD-10-PCS codes from the operative report. Mastering the procedural coding system used in the inpatient hospital setting takes practice. Medical coders reporting inpatient services should start by reading the operative report, […]
AMA announces CPT update for COVID-19 booster candidates

AMA announces CPT update for COVID-19 booster candidates

The American Medical Association (AMA) today announced an editorial update to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®), the nation’s leading medical terminology code set for describing health care procedures and services, that includes newly assigned provisional CPT codes for COVID-19 booster candidates from Pfizer and Sanofi-GlaxoSmithKline. The Pfizer booster candidate is proposed for use in children ages […]
Barostim Heart Failure Treatment: Coding Training

Barostim Heart Failure Treatment: Coding Training

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has begun covering a portion of the device cost for Barostim Neo, a neuromodulation device for treating chronic heart failure. In late 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would begin covering a substantial portion of the cost of implantable heart failure […]
Cms proposes more than 1k new diagnosis codes

Cms proposes more than 1k new diagnosis codes

Brain illness and injury, with a focus on dementia-related diagnoses, occupy a high volume of the 1,495 proposed changes to the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code set by CMS in the fiscal year (FY) 2023 inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) proposed rule. At the same time, CMS also introduced a minimal amount of new ICD-10-PCS procedure codes, […]