Archive for The Month of June, 2007
Archive for the Month of June, 2007
Welcome to the medical billing blog archive for the month of June, 2007.
Here you will find links to every article added to the Outsource Management Group web site during the month of June, 2007.
You can browse this month's archives by clicking the "More" button from any of the excerpts below.
Differentiate Between Facial and Dental Nerve Blocks in Your Medical Billing
When you have a procedure that can cover two close but distinctly different areas such as a facial and a dental nerve block, you need to make sure that your claim encompasses exactly the procedure that was done or you may wind up with a denial of your claim. A common situation would be if the ED physician performed a diagnostic nerve block on a patient complaining of pain in the floor of her mouth and her bottom set of teeth. You would want to be certain that you chose 64402 (Injection, anesthetic agent; facial nerve) for facial nerve blocks, not blocks in the mouth or jaw. The determining factor …
Mastectomy and Lymph Excision Medical Billing Tips
When the surgeon removes lymph nodes during a partial mastectomy, it may be confusing as to how to the mastectomy and the lymph excision. A common point of confusion is whether they should be bundled or reported separately. The answer is pretty cut and dried. In most cases, with partial mastectomy, the surgeon will perform an axillary lymphadenectomy to remove the lymph nodes between the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor muscles. The surgeon may also remove the nodes in the axilla through a separate incision at the same time. When this occurs, you should not report the mastectomy and lymphadenectomy (38745, Axillary lymphadenectomy; complete) separately. Instead, you should use …
Medical Billing Tips for Modifier 59
Using a modifier incorrectly can cost you in terms of reimbursements and time. Carriers are closely scrutinizing medical billing claims for incorrect usage of modified 59. There are two main areas that you can concentrate on to avoid getting his with denials or pay backs and insure that you use the modifier correctly. A study of the OIG found a 40% error rate for modifier 59 and you can double check your billing. First of all, in order to use modifier 59 there must be services performed at separate regions. Fifteen percent of the OIG’s audited claims using modifier 59 had procedures that weren’t distinct because “they were performed at …
Afraid of Under-Reporting Neonatal Services?
Under-reporting medical billing claims is unfortunately common and it costs revenue as you’re not being fully reimbursed for services rendered. Learning the exceptions to the bundles will allow you to break out services that can be billed alone – once you start investigating neonatal services you’ll realize quickly that you may have very been missing legitimate reimbursements. A scenario that isn’t uncommon is when a doctor attends a delivery of a 28-week gestation baby. The infant received positive pressure ventilation (PPV) in the delivery room (DR) with mask and bag for absent respiratory effort at birth. The baby was then intubated in the delivery room and received PPV on transfer …
Medical Billing Dilemma – Coding for Estrogen Withdrawal
Put yourself in this medical biller’s shoes and see if you would file this claim correctly. A patient that recently had a hysterectomy presented to the ED with symptoms needing treatment. The physician noted that the patient was suffering from “estrogen withdrawal with menopausal symptoms.” A level three evaluation and management service was performed on the patient; what diagnosis code would you use? There’s no specific code for estrogen withdrawal. Stumped? In this case you should use more than one code as there is no specific code for this service. Break out the claim to show the patient’s main complaint and reason for the ED visit and then to show …
Pediatric CCE Reimbursements Made Easy
Pediatrics has many medical billing codes that were created just for the use of describing procedures. However, there are other areas of medical billing that do not have these specific codes for children. This can make coding hit or miss unless you know the nuances of what the carrier wants in order to get the maximum reimbursements for procedures performed. A common dilemma is with CPT code 99293 and its use for outpatient emergency room exams for an infant or if code 99291 should be used. The medical billing code 99291 means critical care, evaluation and management of the critically ill or critically injured patient; first 30-74 minutes. You would …
Tips to Get Your Consultation Medical Billing Reimbursed
Since consultation requirements have increased in the last year as far as criteria for getting them reimbursed in your medical billing claims, there are some criteria you must be certain that your claims meet in order to justify using codes 99241-99255. It used to be simple and medical billing consultant merely had to meet the three “R’s” in order to justify medical billing claims for consultations. However the criteria for what does and does not constitute a consultation has changed and in order to make sure that your medical billing claims are paid, you need to reacquaint yourself with the three R’s of medical billing for consultations. The three R’s …
Tips for Coding Emphysema Visits
When you’re compiling the medical billing for an established patient with active emphysema (492.8, Other emphysema) and they present and are complaining of shortness of breath (786.05); the physician provides inhalation treatment, trains the patient on using the nebulizer at home, and provides an expanded problem-focused examination and medical decision-making of low complexity, how would you report this? There will be multiple codes for this visit as the emphysema was the reason for the visit however the physician also provided services and consulted regarding the nebulizer so there will need to be additional codings on the medical billing to take all the services rendered into consideration. Be sure and capture …
Varicose Vein Repair Reporting Tips
Varicose vein treatments are becoming more and more frequent as more patients are urged to get them treated to stave off the possibility of blood clots and other issues that can crop up later if they are left unaddressed by the patient. However reporting the varicose vein treatment procedure on the medical billing may be a little confusion for some; once you know the basics for setting it up – it’s easy! A good example would be if a patient with varicose veins in her left lower leg presents to the ED and is stating she has severe pain in her leg. One of the veins is clearly bleeding so …
Using Modifier 25 in Medical Billing
When claims require modifier 25, there are some simple tips you can use to know the modifier’s details, such as which code to append it to, as well as when to use the modifier. It is important to identify the claim makeup in order to solve the problem of which code to use modifier 25 with. Modifier 25 is a significant, separately identifiable evaluation and management service by the same physician on the same day as the procedure or other service. Do you attach modifier 25 to the well visit or to the sick code? Modifier 25 can be applicable on either code. Therefore, the answer depends on the claim …
