ED Coding Education: FAST Exams

Watch It: If you fly through FAST exam coding, you could miss vital info
When your physician performs a FAST (focused assessment by sonography for trauma) examination, be sure to go through the notes slowly or you could miss one of the three common codes.
FAST exam patients are almost always in some physical trauma, which requires […]

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Pain Management Coding: TPI Do’s and Don’ts for Pay You Can Keep

Sample ICD-9 codes to support medical necessity for trigger point injections.
Counting the right items, knowing insurer-allowed diagnoses, and documenting affected muscles will get your trigger point injection (TPI) claims paid while protecting you from paybacks.
Further, knowing each insurers’ covered diagnoses for TPIs is vital to healthy coding.
√ Do Count Muscles Injected
Coders should report 20552 (Injection[s]; single […]

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How Do I Code an Epidural Blood Patch on Same Day as L&D

Don’t forget to double-check these 2 things to find the correct code.
Question: How do I code an epidural blood patch procedure on the same day as labor and delivery? Should I include a modifier?
Answer: Administering a blood patch on the same day as labor and delivery is unusual because most physicians try to manage spinal […]

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