News
Release by CMS caps months of debate by stakeholders Long awaited and hotly debated, the 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) and Quality Payment Program (QPP) late July, when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released proposed rules for both. Tucked into the MPFS were the controversial revisions to…
October 30, 2018
Telehealth and the Impact of ICD-10-CM
By Terry Fletcher, BS, CPC, CCC, CEMC, CCS, CCS-P, CMC, CMSCS, CMCS, ACS-CA, SCP-CA, QMGC, QMCRC CMS announced on Friday a proposed rule to expand telehealth access for patients. Hospitals, doctors, and other providers seeking an edge in today’s highly competitive healthcare environment would do well to consider a smart telehealth strategy. It’s not an option anymore to think that telemedicine doesn’t fit into your practice.…
Diabetes could be a contributing factor without being the direct cause. In the first article in this series, I compared pressure ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers (the latter are considered non-pressure chronic ulcers in ICD-10-CM). My conclusion was that there is significant overlap, but heel ulcers are prime candidates to…
October 30, 2018
ICD-10 Coding for the Flu
By Laurie Johnson, MS, RHIA, CPC-H, FAHIMA, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer The five “Ws” about the flu. It is that time of year again – flu season, which occurs in the fall and winter in the United States, stretching from early October until May. For me, it was a new experience this year, as I got my flu shot! I had…
October 30, 2018
Random Thoughts about ICD-11
By Rose T. Dunn, MBA, RHIA, CPA, FACHE, FHFMA, CHPS, AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer New classification system noted for granularity. Several of my colleagues recently attended an ICD-11 presentation by Kathy Giannangelo[i] at the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Convention & Exhibit. Kathy has been in the trenches with ICD-11’s development for some time. The attendees described the complexity of this new classification…
October 23, 2018
ICD-10 Coding: Diabetic Foot Ulcer or Pressure Ulcer?
By Erica E. Remer, MD, FACEP, CCDS Even a podiatrist may not know for sure. When is a diabetic’s foot ulcer a pressure ulcer? When is a pressure ulcer a diabetic foot ulcer? These are the questions we are going to explore in this two-part series of articles elicited by my disgruntlement with the advice in the…
October 23, 2018
ICD-10 Coding: Fourth Quarter Coding Clinic Sheds Light on BMI
By Gloryanne Bryant, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCDS, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer New coding clinic edition offers much to review and follow.Everyone in health information management (HIM), coding, and CDI (clinical documentation improvement) is abuzz about the fourth-quarter AHA (American Hospital Association) Coding Clinic on ICD-10-CM/PCS. We just received the third-quarter issue at the end of September, which everyone is still digesting.…
October 23, 2018
The Latest Disease Scare: Acute Flaccid Myelitis
By Laurie Johnson, MS, RHIA, CPC-H, FAHIMA, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer There is no specific code for this condition at the present time. Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) is a rare and serious condition that affects the areas of the spinal cord called the gray matter and has been in the news recently. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention…
