Sometimes, we providers use terms that are very specific and covey a tremendous amount of meaning. Two of those terms are “Ischemic Cardiomyopathy” and “Hypertensive Cardiomyopathy.” When I hear those terms I get a sense that there is dysfunction of the heart – “Heart Failure” – caused by coronary artery disease or hypertension.
If you use those terms, thinking that you have documented a specific type of Heart Failure and that…
As you know the Mid-Year sweep of RAPS data is hastily approaching. The upcoming deadline is Friday, 03/06/15. This deadline pertains to RAPS data from calendar year 2014, which is the basis of payment in calendar year 2015. After the deadline CMS will recalculate current 2015 payments based on any new information received. With this deadline looming, now is a great time to ensure all of your ICD-9 code data has been submitted and accepted by CMS.
Taking steps now…
Some believe they got lucky when the ICD-10 implementation deadline was extended to 2015 because they had procrastinated on learning it. All indications are that the deadline will not be extended a third time, so further hoping is probably not a good strategy. To make the transition manageable in your program we recommend scheduling some time every month to work on it, starting as soon as possible.
While coding guidelines remain largely the same, ICD-10 is a very different coding…
Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones common to the population we treat. Osteoporosis can affect both men and women and woman can lose up to 20% of their bone mass in the years after menopause.
There are two categories of Osteoporosis: primary and secondary. Primary osteoporosis includes postmenopausal, senile and idiopathic. Secondary osteoporosis is caused by various medical conditions including chronic kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis and hyperthyroidism.
Coding for osteoporosis is not difficult if the documentation indicates which type of…