Local radio station personality goes public with his cancer fight. In August 2018, Marty Griffin, KDKA radio personality, announced to his listening audience that he had cancer. His cancer is related to human papilloma virus (HPV), which infects 80 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…

A lesson in coding and policy.Medical marijuana, or cannabis, as it is commonly referred to in the healthcare field, is allowing chronically ill patients to relieve painful, often debilitating symptoms legally instead of taking pills many claim do little to ease severe pain. The widespread acceptance of marijuana as a useful…

The aftermath of Florence prompts a review of emergency preparedness We know the 2018 hurricane season is upon us, but we are always unsure of where the individual storms will appear, what their track will be, and how they will behave. Hurricane Florence—since downgraded to a tropic depression— has been…

ICD-10-CM supports this new classification system. Four major cardiology associations have once again collaborated to update the universal standard definition of myocardial infarction (MI), and this effort was more ambitious than any prior effort. In a document published simultaneously by the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the American Heart Association…

Coordination and Maintenance committee takes place Sept. 11 and 12 at CMS. The Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting takes place twice per year, in March and September. These meetings develop the spirit of coding. In other words, the meetings center on the philosophy or the intent of the codes. One…

Changes coming with 2019 Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting of ICD-10-CM The 2019 Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting of ICD-10-CM have been released, and they certainly encompass some notable changes, as always. Changes occur in the “Conventions,” the “General Guidelines,” and several chapter-specific guidelines as well. Narrative changes…

New codes to be presented at the September Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting There is a lot of buzz in the industry about the possibility of ICD-11. We are so many years from that becoming a possibility, though, with our clinical modifications and political culture. And we still have a…

National HIV Testing Day is June 27. Wednesday is National HIV Testing Day—a day designated to highlight the importance of testing in detecting, treating, and preventing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This special day is designed to encourage people to get tested for HIV, know their status, and get linked to…

Clinical documentation will need to reflect these situations in order to be accurately coded. When beginning research for this article, I opened my 2018 ICD-10-CM book to the External Cause Index section, specifically for the word “harassment,” but it was missing.     The next area I reviewed was the Index, but…

Total number of new code changes is 473 with 279 new codes, 143 revised codes and 51 deactivated codes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Monday released the fiscal year (FY) 2019 ICD-10-CM (diagnosis) code changes. There are 473 code changes beginning Oct. 1st, including 279 new codes,…