Medical Billing Blog: Section - General Info
Archive of all Articles in the General Info Section
This is the archive containing links to all articles written in the General Info section of our blog.
Click any of the article links below to read the entire article or browse another section to the right to read articles on another subject.
HIPAA Civil Monetary Penalty Extended…
Regulations establishing procedures for the imposition of civil monetary penalties for violations of the privacy, electronic transactions and security rules of HIPAA will remain in place for another year, according to an interim final rule issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The procedural rule was slated to expire, but HHS opted to extend it until Sept. 16, 2005, to “avoid disruption of ongoing enforcement actions” while the agency continues to develop a “more comprehensive enforcement rule,” AHA News Now reported. The interim final rule did not address the 19 comments submitted to HHS in response to the original procedural rule, including those of the American Hospital …
New Diagnosis Codes Effective 10/1/2004
The new ICD-9 diagnosis codes went into effect on October 1st, 2004. In the past years, we had a three month grace period to use the new and revised codes. This year in 2004, CMS eliminated the grace period. Which means claims are going to be denied if you have not updated your diagnosis codes. If you have not already, you can view or download the 2004 code updates by visiting http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medlearn/icd9code.asp. Those interested in the proposed new diagnosis coding sytem, ICD-10-CM, being developed as a replacement for ICD-9-CM, volumes 1 and 2, should visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/icd9.htm