Safeguard Against NCS Unit Blunders With Tips from March 2013 CPT Assistant

Posted on 07. May, 2013 by jennifer.godreau.

Nerve conduction study (NCS) coding saw a major overhaul for 2013, requiring you to swap counting nerves for counting tests. To ensure your choice of units doesn’t run afoul of the new rules, check out the just released March 2013 CPT® Assistant. You’ll get the nuts and bolts of the procedures 95907-95913 describe, as well as clarification of what counts as a single study. And don’t miss the six different coding scenarios that help you see the rules in action.

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February 2013 CPT® Assistant Reveals Missed Catheterization Coding Opportunities

Posted on 23. Apr, 2013 by jennifer.godreau.

The CPT® trend of lumping multiple services into a single code has left many questioning whether transcatheter service claims contain too many or too few codes. Help is at hand in the just-released February 2013 CPT® Assistant. You’ll get authoritative guidance on coding catheterization in addition to thrombolysis, feel more secure choosing between primary and secondary mechanical thrombectomy codes, and benefit from coding tips for vena cava filter services, intravascular foreign body retrieval, and carotid stent placement, too.

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Latest CPT® Assistant Dishes Up Details on 2013 MPFS

Posted on 08. Apr, 2013 by jennifer.godreau.

Whether you’re concerned about Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction changes or want to dig in to group practice electronic prescribing rules, the first 2013 issue of CPT® Assistant has what you need. This issue takes on the 2013 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) presenting the must-know highlights from the massive final rule. Molecular pathology and percutaneous coronary intervention coding updates, Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) payments, value-based modifier news, and fee calculation insights are just some of the hot topics featured in this MPFS roundup.
 
A quick search on…

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Take Advantage of This CPT Assistant Thyroidectomy Crash Course

Posted on 25. Feb, 2013 by jennifer.godreau.

ENT coders will approach tough thyroidectomy coding challenges with confidence after reading the feature article in the December 2012 CPT® Assistant. This just-published issue is chock-full of anatomy insights, key term definitions, and modifier tips to take your thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy coding to the next level. You’ll even get a better understanding of when +60512 is separately reportable so you can capture every dollar without worrying about refund requests.

Easily find the definitive guidance you need to combat denials and ensure correct coding with a quick search of AMA’s CPT® Assistant on SuperCoder.com. You can locate the articles on correct CPT® code usage in the December issue by searching for the indicated codes:

• Abdominal paracentesis and peritoneal lavage: 49082-49084, 76705, 76942, 77002, 77012, 77021
• Island pedicle flaps: 13101, 13102, 14000-14302, 15002, 15570-15650, 15731-15740
• Temporalis fascial graft: 69631
• Thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy: 38724, 60210-60271, 60500-60512.

You also don’t want to miss out on the most recent CPT® Assistant Q&A. The December 2012 issue covers a variety of specialties:

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FAQ: How to Research Invalid Message on 95015 Billing?

Posted on 22. Jan, 2013 by jennifer.godreau.

 Question: While billing this morning, it was telling me that the procedure code 95015 is invalid. Has this code changed?

  Answer:Yes, a SuperCoder.com search for this code indicates the code is deleted for 2013 and replaced by codes 95017 and 95018. On any code search window enter, 95015. A subscription to any SuperCoder product  containing Code Search provides the result.

 Click on 95017 and you see the new code’s descriptor and articles discussing the new code.

 Use the arrow button to review the differences between the two new codes as discussed under code 95018’s 2013 Advice.

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Discover Documentation Hot Spots for Updated Chest Tube Codes

Posted on 22. Jan, 2013 by jennifer.godreau.

 Technique, technique, technique! The just-published November 2012 CPT® Assistant highlights procedural technique as your key to interpreting 2013’s thoracentesis and tube thoracostomy codes. This issue’s collection of clinical examples will help you cut through the confusion so you can capture the correct code for your chest case.

 You can pinpoint the official guidance you need from AMA’s CPT® Assistant with a quick search on SuperCoder’s Code Connect.  Find the articles in the most recent issue by keying in the codes below into the code search box on Code Connect or any code search box and looking under the Code Connect tab:

   Bronchospasm provocation and spirometry: 94010, 94070, 95070, 95071, 99070

• Eye paracentesis, anterior chamber: 65800-65815, 66020, 66030, 67500, 67515, 68200
• Nervous system testing, autonomic: 93660, 95921-95924, 95943
• Pleural drainage, thoracentesis, and thoracostomy: 32551, 32554-32557, 75989, 76604, 76942, 77002, 77012, 77021, 99143-99145

For answers to even more coding puzzles, make the most of CPT® Assistant FAQs. The November 2012 issue responds to real-world questions for these areas:

• Central venous catheter: 36568, 36569
• E/M, online: 99444, 99499
• Eyelid excision: 14000-14302, 67966
• Musculoskeletal surgery and repair: 25607, 27299, 27331, 27420
• Respiratory testing: 94010, 94620, 94621, 94799
• Trachea and larynx surgery: 31571, 31599, 31615

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Fee Schedule’s Ups and Downs All on SuperCoder

Posted on 07. Jan, 2013 by jennifer.godreau.

The New Year rang in last minute changes for the 2013 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule with the conversion rate plummeting to 25.0008 on Jan. 1, 2013. After Obama signed the legislation into law, the rate rose to 34.023 on Jan. 4.

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Quickly Spot CPT® Guideline Changes by Looking for Green SuperCoder Text

Posted on 07. Jan, 2013 by jennifer.godreau.

If you cross 2013 updates off your to-do list without checking for any guidelines changes, your 2013 coding could be noncompliant. Meeting a code’s requirements also requires adhering to any definitions, documentation specifications, and/or rules listed in the code’s section or subsection guidelines.

For 2013, you have almost 150 CPT® guidelines changes to learn. Fortunately, with SuperCoder’s Code Search, you can quickly spot a code’s changed guidelines. Just like a coding manual, new and/or revised guidelines text is highlighted in green. And when combined with a Coding Alert online newsletter in http://www.supercoder.com/coding-solutions/physician-coder,

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Decipher the ‘Rule of Nines’ With AMA’s Latest Burn Treatment Guidance

Posted on 21. Dec, 2012 by jennifer.godreau.

If you code for burn-related services, you know the Rule of Nines is even more complicated than it sounds. Luckily, the October 2012 CPT® Assistant  has pinpointed the documentation details that will lead you straight to the proper code. Clear-cut comparisons of debridement and escharotomy will take your understanding of this difficult coding area to the next level.

 Accessing the authoritative guidance from AMA’s CPT® Assistant  is simple, thanks to SuperCoder.com’s Code Connect. Search the codes below for quick links to articles on these subjects:

•  Burn treatment: 11042, 11047, 15002, 15005, 15100, 15278, 16000-16036, 97597
• Computed tomography (CT), abdomen and pelvis: 74150, 74160, 74170, 72192-72194
• Debridement, open fracture or dislocation: 11010-11012, 11042, 11044-11047, 15002, 15005
• Ophthalmology, modifiers 50 and 52: 92002, 92014, 92025, 92081-92083, 92100, 92132-92134, 92140, 92225, 92227, 92228, 92240, 92250, 92265, 92270, 92275, 92283-92286, 92310-92312, 92314- 92316, 92325.

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Get HCPCS Level II 2013 Code Changes Plus Retain 2012 Fees into the New Year – only on Your Specialty Physician Coder

Posted on 10. Dec, 2012 by jennifer.godreau.

Now is the time to review your super bills to update them in preparation for more than 150 new and deleted HCPCS level II codes. Otherwise, you could be facing denials for drugs and other supplies come Jan. 1, 2013.

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