Coding & Documentation

If a patient declines an injection - can you bill for the cost of the medication?

This physician wonders why he has to dictate an H&P and discharge summary for a patient he never actually visited.

Here's what you need to know when it comes to medical coding to remove sutures.

One of the biggest changes to affect the entire healthcare industry is the pending required adoption of the new X12 Version 5010 Electronic Transaction Standard and International Classifications of Diseases procedure codes, or ICD-10 code sets, which will expand the current 17,000 coding options to the 155,000 code sets. The Version 5010 changes are set to take effect on January 1, 2012 and the ICD-10 transition date is October 1, 2013. In this podcast you will learn what your medical practice or medical billing company will need to do to be prepared in advance of these deadlines. This podcast is brought to you by Nuesoft Technologies and NueMD, Internet-based practice management software and electronic health records. Nuesoft has an established U.S. customer base of more than 15,000 users in 49 states.

In this issue, a question that asks how many new codes are in the ICD-10 code set.

Here’s how to use these code add-ons correctly to help you get paid what you deserve

NPP versus physician visit

One of the thorniest coding questions is: Can a physician bill for family meetings when the patient is not present? If so, who gets the bill ?

Here are your latest coding questions, answered by coding expert Bill Dacey.

Advance preparation is your key to successfully managing the ICD-10 conversion. Here’s what your practice needs to know and do to get ready.

Billing new OB visits; office visit codes; bundling procedures; and global post-ops

How good are your key accounts receivable processes? Do you even know what to measure? Find out how you are doing by entering key data from your practice and comparing your key measurements to industry benchmarks.

Use this sample template for guidelines on documenting inpatient visits. Provided by Hill & Associates.

A quick overview of the Initial Preventive Physical Examination (IPPE),a new Medicare benefit effective 1-1-05. Understand the components and how to bill for the exam.

Use this sample template for guidelines on documenting patient visits in general. Provided by Hill & Associates.

Plain language advice on using common modifiers in your medical coding.

Use this sample template for guidelines on documenting established patient visits. Provided by Hill & Associates.

Use this sample template for guidelines on documenting outpatient visits. Provided by Hill & Associates.

Expert Judy Capko explains why it’s crucial to designate someone in your practice the captain of your coding team.

Hospitalist admit billing; coding for pre-op exam; selecting high vs. moderate risk.

Billing for hospitalists; smoking cessation documentation; patients’ paperwork; group visit codes.

Billing massage chair use; using the AI modifier; getting paid for pulse ox.

Coding is hard. It’s tedious. Yet it is how you get paid for the services you perform. So we asked the experts where things go wrong most of the time - and how to fix them.

Problem visits with counseling; coding for suture removal; mixing exam types?

Billing for vitals recordings; discharge summary on a deceased patient; a wasted controlled substance.

Giving credit for exam work; decision making for established visits; billing a hospital admission.

Primary care exception; critical care coding; prescription drug management

Documenting shared visits; further vs. additional workup planned.

Hospital-doctor bundling schemes are a near-certainty in any healthcare reform. Will physicians get the short end of the stick?

Vaccine counseling; new or established patients; coding for coordinating care.