This disease of the brain is the most common neurological disorder Parkinson’s awareness is being addressed tomorrow, April 11, as “World Parkinson’s Day,” also making April national Parkinson’s awareness month here in the U.S. As a neurodegenerative disease of the brain, which impacts an individual’s motor function, Parkinson’s Disease (PD)…

Review your payer policies when performing these services. Pain management coding can be tricky.  Trigger point injection therapy is a common procedure performed by pain management specialists, orthopedic surgeons, physical medicine and rehab and other specialties. Trigger point injection therapy is used for the treatment of myofascial pain syndrome (MPS).…

Complicated coding of type 2 myocardial infarctions. Advancing technology often leads to evolution of medicine. As our laboratory studies become more sensitive, we need to evaluate what the clinical significance of a positive test is. Such is the case with troponin. In October 2012, the Third Universal Definition of Myocardial…

The ICD-10 code set is growing, and feedback from the medical community on the changes is needed. This is the second piece in a series of articles encompassing a review of the Coordination and Maintenance (C&M) Committee meeting held March 6 and 7, 2018. What follows is a review of…

Coders are encouraged to learn more about the clinical conditions associated with the patient encounters they are coding. As coders, we often struggle with assigning the correct codes. There are many gray areas in the guidelines and instructional notes, and sometimes even conflicting information can be found. This leads to…

The ICD-10 code set is growing, and feedback from the medical community on the changes is needed. This is the first in a series of articles encompassing a review of the Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting, which was held March 6 and 7, 2018. First, we will review the procedure…

Amid confusion over New Technology codes, much attention was focused on partial knee joint replacements during the recent ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting, March 8 and 9 at CMS headquarters. The Coordination and Maintenance (C&M) Committee meeting was held March 6 and 7 to discuss potential new codes. The…

Newly covered treatment offers promising relief for sufferers of condition tied to poor blood circulation in the legs.  The main symptom of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is intermittent claudication. This is an aching, cramping, tired, and sometimes burning sensation in the legs that comes and goes – it typically occurs when walking…

“Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony  Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh Lord, why don't we?”— Sir Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, 1982   Left alone in a small examining room, I scrolled the Associated Press news app on my cell phone, waiting for my physician to…

Communication, collaboration, and coding exemplify the tone of last week’s C & M meeting. “Communication, collaboration, and coding” are three words that describe the March 6 and 7 ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance meetings in Baltimore last Tuesday and Wednesday. The meetings were conducted at the headquarters of the Centers for…