Stay tuned to CPT 2010 & other changes

CPT 2010 is just round the corner. Are you ready for the sea of changes it will bring with it this time round?


American Medical Association (AMA) is planning to come up with lots of changes. They have said that they will work to reduce the confusion that has been created in the past when a new code is added in a section that has run out of numbers. AMA is naming the new process ‘resequencing’, which can be used in rare occasions.


AMA has also released some information relating to H1N1 codes and data structure. In reply to an urgent request from the Department of Health and Human Services, the CPT Editorial panel voted to create a new code and to revise another to use for reporting for H1N1 virus. These changes were approved by the panel on September 25, 2009. Since these changes were made so late in the year, you will not find them in the 2010 CPT code book. But chances are you’ll find these codes in the 2011 CPT code book.


How do you keep yourself informed of the latest CPT and other changes if they are not to be found anywhere in the CPT code book? You can go for CPT coding online information. For this, you can sign up for a one-stop medical coding website and have access to the entire gamut of CPT changes and information.

Stay informed of 2010 CPT codes and avoid claim errors

The average salary for an entry-level coder was around $30,000 in 2003, with some facilities offering higher salaries to well-trained individuals with experience and certification. As per the prediction of the US Department of Labor, the overall numbers of careers in medical information technology will have increased by almost 50 per cent between 2003 and 2010. Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) coders are one of the key components of this ever-growing job market.


Come January 1, 2010, and CPT code set will include several changes of interest to Ob-Gyns, including guideline clarifications in addition to new, revised and deleted codes. Owing to the HIPAA requirements, insurers must accept new codes starting January 1, 2010.


And with more than 500 CPT code changes likely for the year 2010, it’s important that you keep yourself update with what’s new, what’s been revised and what’s been done away with to keep your payments intact.


For all the 2010 AMA CPT codes, there are various one-stop medical coding websites where you can head to. When you sign up at http://www.SuperCoder.com , you’ll know what to stop using, what to start using, what you might have to use differently, and the like. In other words, such websites will certainly help you prepare to avoid claim errors and lost reimbursement.

Specialty-specific medical coding survival guides to your rescue

Thousands of people have made coding their lifelong career path, got certified and started their own medical services from the comforts of their homes. But it’s not that easy to survive the tough challenges that a medical coder has to put up with. Making sure your coding is compliant is a never-ending task.


To stay on top of your coding game, there are various medical coding survival guides, which are easy to read and tailored specifically to select the appropriate code every time. So whether you’re coding for cardiology, orthopedic, Ob-Gyn, or any other specialty, there are medical coding survival guides to help you sail through.


You can get specialty-specific medical coding survival guides both in print and online formats. For the online version, there are one-stop coding websites which come loaded with survival guides. Evaluation and management survival guide, ICD-9 update guide, modifier coding survival guide, Pediatric coders survival guide, et al - All you need to do is register for a one-stop coding website and take your pick.


These guides are sure shot ways to brush up the coding essentials for your specialty. They come packed with practical tips, strategies and every trick of the trade to help you wriggle out of your coding woes. In other words they just teach you to survive difficult coding situations so that you don’t miss out on your rightful reimbursements.


So whether you’re coding for cardiology, orthopedic or any other specialty, medical coding survival guides will certainly help you survive the toughest coding challenges.


With these survival guides around, medical coding has never been easier!

What you need is a one-stop medical codes look up system

The online world has a number of medical codes look up system, but most of them are difficult to use and is tough on the pocket of the average physician practice. What you really need here is a tool that is affordable, easy to use, and packed with top-notch information.


There are a few one-stop online shops for medical coders which are however simple, providing you with instant connection to official medical code descriptors and guidelines.


Such websites also provide you with how-to-articles, discussion forums, CMS references, CCI bundles and a host of other tools to help the medical coder in you perform your every day duty and excel in it too. All you need to do is insert a keyword or code and the website does the rest of the work for you.


What’s more when you sign up for such a website, you’ll get opportunities to get CEUs which in turn will keep your certifications current.


The medical coding and billing world is changing at a fast pace and to keep pace with it, you need a one-stop shop which will provide you with just the right tools to keep you on track – one place which will provide you with all the important news, updates and insurance changes needed to keep your practice compliant and profitable.

Evaluation and management coding: A low down

Evaluation and Management (E&M) services are those services provided by physicians and non-physician practitioners to weigh up patients and manage their care. The important components of evaluation and management services are history, examination and medical decision-making. When it comes to history, you need to be careful of over documentation; every office visit does not require a detailed history.


Evaluation and Management coding is an important part of the hospital’s revenue cycle; therefore it’s essential that these codes are reported accurately. It’s also on the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) radar. As such, it’s all the more important now than ever to accurately report these codes. Conducting an Evaluation & Management audit will help your practice boost its revenue.


Challenges of Evaluation and Management Coding:


• Well-trained E&M coding coders are not found easily and demand high salaries

• Few E&M coders are certified

• Coding guidelines for E/M services are complex, change often and errors can be costly to the practice


Advanced management strategies: You need to understand the E/M guidelines for accurate and appropriate coding no doubt, but understanding how to benchmark E/M utilization is the key to developing advanced management strategies. This is inclusive of compliance risk assessments, financial impact analyses, etc.


Evaluation and management services guide: There are one-stop shops where you can get expert solutions to all your evaluation and management coding queries. So go for one and enhance compliance and recognize areas of risk at your practice, identify patterns of undercoding and upcoding, spot revenue opportunities and of course improve your documentation!

CPT codes: How to get started

In order to use Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) coding, you’ll need to have sound knowledge in the general medical parlance. This is inclusive of medical terminology basics as well as a good understanding of human anatomy and physiology. CPT is segmented into three categories of codes:


• Category I: These are procedures that are consistent with contemporary medical practice and are used extensively.


• Category II: These are supplementing tracking codes that can be used for performance measures.


• Category III: These are temporary codes for emerging technology, services and procedures.


There are several sources of access for the CPT codes, both online and offline. You can check out a CPT coding website, which offers free study guides, tutorials and assessments that can help you in your understanding of specific CPT codes and the overall coding process.


Instead of looking at CPT coding as one big picture, it makes more sense to break it down into smaller ones that are easier to comprehend. You need to spend a fair amount of time learning about Category I codes before moving on to the others. This will give you a solid foundation and the confidence to go further. You’ll also get more insight by visiting the websites of different insurance companies, CMS, and others.

Tips to fill health insurance claim forms

Filling a health insurance claim form is not too difficult a task, but some people do run into troubled waters while doing so. Keeping a few things in mind will certainly help you file your claim better so that you don’t land in any spot.



Before you get your health insurance claim form, the first thing that you need to procure is an itemized bill from your doctor, listing all the services that he has provided you with along with the cost of each of those services. This is something that you will need to attach to your health insurance claim form.



After this, reach out to your health insurance company to procure a health insurance claim form. If you have any query, get them clarified then and there before filling up the form. It will question you on things such as insurance information, what was the visit for, among other things.




After you’re done with filling up the claim form, make sure you keep duplicate copies of the filled out form as well as of the itemized bill obtained from your doctor. This will do away with any error that may be made in the claim process and make your task easier in case your health insurance claim gets lost. In fact make copies of everything that is going to be involved in the process.



Last but not the least, a very important part of the process is to review it. See to it that everything’s in place before you send it off because you wouldn’t want even a small mistake to throw things out of gear. Find out how long it’s going to take it get backs to you.



Following these tips while filling up health insurance claim forms is certainly the way to go!

Report the code that best represents the specific procedure

CPT procedure code versus unlisted procedure code: Procedural codes are a key component in the medical coding and billing industry. But where does unlisted procedure codes fit into the scheme of things?


When a procedure cannot be accurately described by a CPT code, you need to report unlisted procedure code rather than a code that is close. Using a listed code that does not match the procedure can bring in compliance risks.


When do you report unlisted procedure codes?


• You can use unlisted procedure codes for new procedures that are not yet represented in the CPT code set.

• You can also use these codes for procedures that do not involve new technology and are not performed at regular intervals.


When a physician carries out several procedures that are represented by the same unlisted procedure code, only one unit of the unlisted code should be reported. Also, you’ll do well to remember that you should not use modifiers on unlisted procedure codes as these codes do not have a standard description that can be changed.


More often than not, healthcare providers try to escape the use of unlisted procedures fearing that payment may elude them or might get delayed. Therefore, billing for unlisted procedure code is certainly more labor-intensive than billing for listed procedures. But this should not prevent you from reporting the code that best represents the specific procedure that was carried out.

Official Medical Code Descriptors and Guidelines, How-to articles, CMS references, Discussion forums

Inhealthcare, LLC (http://www.inhealthcare.com), in association with The Coding Institute (http://www.codinginstitute.com/) has officially beta-launched Supercoder.com, a revolutionary new online reference tool for medical coders & billers.

There are some decent code lookup systems out there, but many of them are hard to use and too expensive for the average physician practice to afford, says Coding Institute president Samantha Saldukas. «So our medical coders and software developers teamed up to create a tool that's affordable, easy to use, and packed with the top-notch advice The Coding Institute is known for.

Supercoder.com is a simple, instant connection to official medical code descriptors and guidelines, how-to articles, CMS references, discussion forums, and other tools that help medical coders and billers excel in the work they do everyday. And everything is code and keyword searchable.

“Supercoder has been such a help,” says Coding Institute Managing Editor Jennifer Godreau, whose team of CPCs has field-tested the new tool. “It's my go-to-place for code searches, back info, and CCI bundles - all in one easy to use location with a super fast search engine.”

Now Inhealthcare is bringing this «go-to place» to even more coders and billers. Supercoder.com is currently accepting limited beta subscribers to sign up and test the functionality and features of the site. Interested parties can sign up for a free trial here:
Supercoder offers to its users:
* Official descriptors and guidelines for CPT®, ICD-9 and HCPCS codes lookup.
* Easy-to-understand updates & instructions to guide a coder in every task, in every specialty.
* Opportunities to collect CEUs for the CPC & other AAPC certifications.
* Simple paths that take coders to exactly what they need from CMS.
* Reimbursement tools like CCI edit alerts, RVU calculators & more.
*An online community to help coders, billers and clinicians in the daily reimbursement challenges they face.

For more information about this topic, please contact us by e-mail: marketing@supercoder.com