Chiropractic Coding: Avoid This Common Documentation Mistake

June 9, 2010

Treatment plans are a must, experts say.

You’ve treated your chiropractic patient, you’ve selected the correct codes, and you’ve submitted your claim. All set, right? Not quite. Check out this common mistake that chiropractors make.

“Many chiropractors do not create written chiropractic treatment plans for every new patient,” says Marty Kotlar, DC, CHCC, CBCS, president of Target Coding, a chiropractic coding and billing consulting firm. Use this checklist to ensure you send Medicare the information CMS most wants to see included “with every new patient plan of care,” Kotlar says:

__ The history
__ Present illness
__ Family history
__ The past health history
__ The physical examination
__ The diagnosis
__ The plan — This should include:

Therapeutic modalities to effect cure or relief (patient education and exercise training)
The level of care that is recommended (the duration and frequency of visits)
Specific goals that are to be achieved with treatment
The objective measures that will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment
Date of initial treatment.

__ Signature/initials to authenticate the records.

@ Part B Insider (Editor: Torrey Kim, CPC).

Sign up for the upcoming live audio conference, Risk Management Strategies for Healthcare Providers, or order the CD/transcripts.

Be a hero. Sign up for Supercoder.com, and join the coding community at the Supercoder.com Facebook Fan Page.

Share:

More Posts

Last-Minute Tips For Creating An ICD-10 Command Center

When the clock ticks in a new month and the entire healthcare industry is thereby mandated to begin using the new ICD-10 code set, there

ICD-10 Data: Does It Matter?

It is often argued that ICD-10 coding does nothing for the patient. Recently that point was made at the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing “Examining ICD-10 Implementation” last week.

Researchers Create Online Tool To Ease Transition to ICD-10 Codes

Researchers have developed an online mapping tool designed to help stakeholders transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 code sets, EHR Intelligence reports.

Know your Priorities When it Comes to ICD-10: Five Areas that Deserve your Attention Now

The next nine months are critical in terms of preparing for a smooth transition to ICD-10. If ICD-10 isn’t a priority in your organization yet, it should quickly rise to the top of the list as soon as possible.

There’s not enough incentive to keep health care data safe

The grim message following a breach that has endangered sensitive data belonging to 80 million current and former Anthem health insurance customers is that we can only expect more health care data breaches in the future.