Decipher what column 1/column 2 means in this neurosurgery bundle example.
Question: Would you explain what the differences are between mutually exclusive and “column 1/column 2″ edits that come from the Correct Coding Initiative (CCI)?
Florida Subscriber
Answer: Mutually exclusive…
Help is here: One troublesome, confusing edit is no longer an issue.
You may still be getting to know your CPT 2010 manual, but the new edition of CCI, effective April1, is already looking to make some code pairings impossible….
Make sure your documentation supports the additional substantial complexity of the hernia repair and mesh.
Question: A patient presented for a colectomy for colon cancer. The physician also discovered that the patient had a ventral incarcerated hernia that required a…
CMS won’t fix CCI blunder until version 16.1, to be released in the spring.
If your heart skipped a beat when you saw that January’s Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) edits bundled catheter ablations with electrophysiology (EP) studies, you weren’t alone.
Good news: CMS has decided to delete the edits retroactively because their addition was a mistake, according […]
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Don’t sweat reporting 38220-59 if you meet these Medicare-approved conditions.
If your oncologist takes both a bone marrow biopsy and a bone marrow aspiration, whether you’ll see Medicare reimbursement depends on the two guidelines below. But watch out: With OIG scrutiny and a HCPCS twist, these guidelines will put your coding savvy to the test.
Append 59 […]
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This aspect of op note coding is the “horse that pulls the cart.”
Stuck on how to tackle this op note or those sitting on your desk? Follow this advice, provided by Melanie Witt, RN, CPC, COBGC, MA, an ob-gyn coding expert based in Guadalupita, N.M. and co-presenter of the “Ob-Gyn Op Notes” session at the […]
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Look for transcutaneous hemoglobin limitations, and bundling for those new 2010 culture codes.
Think you’re ready to use all those brand new CPT lab codes? Not so fast. You better learn Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) restrictions first, before you start billing Medicare for services using new CPT 2010 codes.
CCI released version 16.0, effective Jan. 1, which includes 24,060 […]
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Here’s where you can bypass the edits with modifier 59.
The Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) version 16.0 didn’t overlook the hysterectomy, vaginal graft, and colpopexy codes — nor should you. To make sense of the deletions, break these additions into mutually exclusive and non-mutually exclusive.
Note: In all these cases — except those involving the anesthetic injection […]
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Determine ‘planned or unplanned’ before separately coding vitrectomy.
With several possible surgical treatments for cataract procedures, which you probably code more often than any other surgery, there’s a lot of room for error – with over $890 at stake for complex cataract procedures in 2009.
Use these tricky scenarios as a guide through some of the most […]
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Tip: Discover true meaning of 38792 note
Question: The physician performed a sentinel node injection with lymphoscintigraphy. A note with 38792 states to report 78195 for imaging. So why did Medicare deny a claim that included both codes?
Answer: You should report 78195 (Lymphatic and lymph nodes imaging) for this service and leave 38792 (Injection procedure; for […]
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