Any time you are coding for problem visits that a patient has, it is important that you take into consideration any other office visits that they may have recently had. Basically, you are going to want to look to see if there is a connection between visits for preventative medicine as well as current health issues that may be in place, which also needs some attention.
Many times, a physician will end up seeing a patient that shows up in search of a visit to fall into the category of preventative medicine. Then, upon further evaluation, the doctor will then need to look at the patient further for some sort of significant problem that they have. As a coder, you may end up finding yourself in a situation where you are not sure if you are to code the visit under a new or established patient. (more…)
When your medical billing claims get rejected, one claim can put your staff behind on everything they are supposed to be doing. The patient’s folder will have to be pulled, the notes will have to be re-read and researched, the claim will have to be compiled again and the coding will need to be double checked again to make sure you are using the latest codings and modifiers for the claim. In some cases the carrier will need to be contacted which is more time lost from servicing your practice and the claim will have to be submitted once again and the will take more time away from your day to day servicing of patients. (more…)
A common occurrence in the emergency is the dislocation of various joints. They are sometimes incorrectly handled as breaks but shouldn’t be and you could be setting your practice up for a denial at best and audit at worst if you report these procedures incorrectly on your medical billing.
Even if the reduction of the dislocation fails, the attempt should be reported on not only the medical billing as a procedure but also in the documentation as another procedure will have to be tried to relocate the elbow to its proper placement and you can show the timeline for the necessity of other and more involved treatments. (more…)
