March Brings with it National Kidney Month
March Brings with it National Kidney Month By Laurie M. Johnson, MS, RHIA, FAHIMA, AHIMA Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer – March 4, 2024 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) has announced that March is National Kidney Month. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 14 percent of adults in the United […]
Coding and Denials: It Comes Down to ‘ABCD’
Coding and Denials: It Comes Down to ‘ABCD’ By Angela Lima BS, CCS, CDIP, CIC, COC, AAPC-Approved Instructor | February 5th, 2024 | If you oversee the coding process or directly manage coders, you know how important accurate, defensible coding is. Inaccurate coding leads to claim denials. An increase in claim denials may lead to […]
CPT Coding: Unlisted CPT Codes Are Not a Sign of Laziness
CPT Coding: Unlisted CPT Codes Are Not a Sign of Laziness By Kim Huey, MJ, CHC, CPC, CCS-P, PCS, CPCO, COC|February 29th, 2024 When a coding professional assigns an unlisted code, or a physician advises the use of an unlisted code, it does not mean that the coder is too lazy to work to find […]
Marking Fire Prevention Week with Burn Coding Basics By Laurie M. Johnson
Marking Fire Prevention Week with Burn Coding Basics By Laurie M. Johnson, MS, RHIA, FAHIMA, AHIMA Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer | October 16, 2023 Oct. 8-14 is National Fire Prevention Week. The diagnosis codes for burns are found in Chapter 19 (Injury, Poisoning, and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes) of ICD-10-CM. The Index entry for burns […]
LSUS alumni’s develop AI chatbot with Discord server to help with medical coding
LSUS alumni’s develop AI chatbot with Discord server to help with medical coding By Makenzie Boucher Shreveport Times Two Louisiana State University of Shreveport alumni have developed an innovative medical coding chatbot that is designed to reduce time and improve accuracy for medical coding. According to LSUS, Phillip Kilgore and Keyvan Shahrdar have created […]
Sickle-cell Vaso-occlusive Disease
By Lynn Kuehn, MS, RHIA, CCS-P, FAHIMA If you’ve ever tried to code an admission for a patient admitted with sickle-cell pain but no one documented it as vaso-occlusive pain, and there was no answer to your query, you are finally in luck! The code titles and index entries for this condition are changing for FY2024 […]
Anesthesiology Coding and Billing: Central Venous Insertion
Anesthesiology Coding and Billing: Central Venous Insertion By Marcy Garuccio, ACS-AN, CANPC, CPMA, CPCReprinted with Permission, Medi-Corp, Inc. Reviewing documentation of central venous catheters placement can be a challenge for coders and auditors. Coders often see the indication noted on the paper anesthesia record, “insertion of CVP,” and they are instructed to code the appropriate […]
Coding Audit Benchmarking: Comparing apples to apples
Coding Audit Benchmarking: Comparing apples to apples Let me ask you a question: Wouldn’t it be nice to benchmark your coder’s performance against other coders in the industry? Up to this point, there has never really been a way to do this. Why? Because there are no standards for calculating accuracy rates. For as many […]