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Getting ready for ICD-10-CM
Add two more items to the office’s ICD-10-CM checklist: the billing service and the office staff who will be doing the coding.
A checklist for the billing service
First the billing service or clearinghouse.
Medicare is telling offices to check with the services they use to make sure they are indeed up to speed in their preparation for the new…
By Therese M. Jorwic, MPH, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P
Musculoskeletal system
The new surgery codes begin with the musculoskeletal system.
New code 22586 is for arthrodesis, or fixation of a joint, in this case the spine. It covers the pre-sacral area, which is the L5 to S1 section of the sacrum right above the tailbone, with the interbody technique.
This code gets used whether the procedure is done alone or with…
HIPAA, which has traditionally focused its attention on larger entities, is now closing in on smaller organizations and smaller violations.
A hospice in Idaho has been fined $50,000 for a security breach of its electronic health information. This is the first time HIPAA has gone after a breach affecting fewer than 500 patients, and the government says the fine is “a strong message” that HIPAA-covered entities, no matter how small, “will be held accountable for safeguarding their patients’ health information.”
The action was taken against Hospice of North Idaho in Hayden, ID, which had …
Getting ready for ICD-10-CM
Here’s another recommendation for the ICD-10-CM move. It comes from Medicare: make a list of the office’s most frequent ICD-9-CM codes and see where the current documentation will need to be expanded for ICD-10.
ICD-10 sets out more choices for diagnoses than does ICD-9-CM, so for many conditions, the record will have to show specific factors that currently don’t have to be documented for coding. One, for example, is laterality. For many diagnoses, the record will need to show whether the condition affects the right or left side of the body or is…
By Therese M. Jorwic, MPH, RHIA CCS, CCS-P, FAHIMA
What in the world does the office do to get ready for it?
Here are the parts managers need to know about.
New book, same two volumes
ICD-10 is the revised version of ICD-9.
There are two parts to it, just as there are to ICD-9.
The first is the Clinical Modifications or ICD-10-CM (just like ICD-9-CM). Those are the diagnosis codes, and it’s the only part physician offices use.
The second part is procedure codes, but only hospitals use those. Offices use the CPT procedure codes instead…
By Therese M. Jorwic, MPH, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia.
It’s not a normal part of the aging process, but the risk of getting it becomes greater as people get older. In fact, every five years after age 65, the risk doubles. Specifically, it affects about 5.2 million people, and of those, 44% are age 75-84 and 46% are 85 or older. What Alzheimer’s does is form plaques and tangles within the brain that cause the nerve cells to lose connection. The plaques are tiny clumps of protein called beta amyloid peptide, and the tangles are twisted strands made up of a protein called
tau. The brain tries to get rid of the proteins and in doing so becomes inflamed and damaged. Then the cells start to die and…
By Therese M. Jorwic, MPH, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P
March is National Kidney Month, so here’s a look at the coding for chronic kidney disease, or CKD, which affects 26 million adults in the U.S.
CKD often goes undiagnosed because its symptoms – energy loss, swollen feet and eyes, frequent urination, and so on – may not appear until it reaches the later stages.
The disease gradually reduces kidney function and can progress to end-stage renal disease or ESRD requiring dialysis and even kidney transplant. Along the way, it can …
It’s a sex thing. In the professional world, women tend to undersell themselves.
And the fallout is money. Studies show that women make only 77% of what their male working counterparts earn, and usually earn less even when they have the same job description and same education.
Why? Because men present themselves in a stronger, more complimentary light, says Vickie Milazzo, a legal nurse consultant in Houston who is both a nurse and…
By Therese M. Jorwic, MPH, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P
The path and lab updates
There are more than 100 new codes for molecular pathology, or studies to detect variances in genes. They are divided into two tiers. The Tier 1 codes (81383) are for the tests that are done relatively often such as genetic testing for colon or breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, and Tay-Sachs disease. The Tier 2 codes (81400 through 81408) are for genetic testing for rare disease. The codes in Tier 1 are listed in alphabetical order.
The medicine updates
VACCINES AND TOXOIDS: New code 90654 is interesting in that it covers simply flu vaccine. It’s for all preservative-free…
What flaws are the Recovery Audit Contractors searching for in records?
Illegible documentation, incomplete documentation, unidentified providers, wrong dates of service – and evidence of improper corrections.
To help offices stay safe, the government has set out guides for making corrections so the records pass muster with the RACs.
Those same guides will also ensure the records pass muster with a jury should they end.
The definition of correct
For both paper and electronic records, the government says, three principles have to be followed.
• First, the new information has to identify itself for what it is…
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