You’ll find minimal changes to the Medicare National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) code files this fourth quarter 2023. The update, effective Oct. 1, includes just three changes to code edits in both the practitioner and hospital procedure-to-procedure (PTP) edits. If your practitioners provide these services, however, the changes are a big deal.

The National Center for Health Statistics posted, July 5, the fiscal year (FY) 2024 update to the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting (diagnosis coding guidelines). Medical coders and auditors should review these guidelines at least annually to ensure quality reporting of patient conditions and encounters. With this latest version of the guidelines (and the ICD-10-CM code set) going into effect Oct. 1, now is a good time to review the changes.

As a coder, how often do you worry about meeting your productivity goals? Yeah, we understand.

Increasing reading speed is one way we recommend trying to increase your coding productivity. Some of the tips below may help you to increase your reading speed. Read the documents below, view the videos online and listen to the audio sessions and let us know if you found these tips useful.

The stress and struggle of modifiers are real. In fact, two of the most misused modifiers are Modifier 58 and Modifier 78 because, at first glance, they look the same—they even share similar verbiage—and after a long day of coding, it is too easy to skim through the modifier language and append the wrong code.

A diabetes drug for Parkinson’s disease

Roger Albin: For both purely scientific issues and clinical practice issues, the phase 3 trial for exenatide in Parkinson’s disease is a very attractive trial. It has the big advantage of being a repurposed drug that is already widely used in older patients.

Patients who report to the emergency department (ED) for an electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) can create a coding quandary. Namely, how does the ED coder report their physician’s work with the patient? Can they use the EKG CPT® codes or do they need to go another route?

Providers wondering exactly when they can say goodbye to the Medicare and Medicaid COVID-19 vaccination requirement for employees finally have a concrete date — but it may be further away than they’d like.

…As a Certified Professional Coder!

The PHE is over. It’s time to refocus attention on quality care.

Why Health Nonprofits Are an Important Part of Public Health