Author: Ward, Maria

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2017

Every year as the summer months arrive, coding professionals, healthcare providers, documentation improvement specialists, and other healthcare professionals wait expectantly for the release of all the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) coding updates. This year is no differe....

Author: Land, Daniel

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2017

Coding professionals are the guardians of the patient’s story; they translate the language of medicine into coded data. The accuracy of this translation is essential for many reasons beyond today’s reimbursement. Coded data is used for clinical decision making, healthcare polic....

Author: Davies, Sharon

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2017

One thing is for certain, everyone’s life will end someday. But who wants to broach this uncomfortable subject in a healthcare setting? The patient? The patient’s family? The primary care provider? The hospitalists?


Medicare has recognized the value of this servi....

Author: Comfort, Angie

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2017

The arrival of October 1, 2015 was met with anxiety, alarm, and even terror by many as the healthcare industry braced for what some called “another Y2K-like event”—the ICD-10-CM/PCS implementation. Fast-forward to September 2017, where we have been living in the post-ICD-....

Author: McNicholas, Faith C.

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2017

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) created a new place of service (POS) code for use by physicians and other qualified healthcare practitioners (QHPs) who furnish telehealth services from a distant site, effective January 1, 2017.


According to Medicare, ser....

Author: Merriweather, Kay; Slater, Leslie; Bohley, Michele

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2017

“If it’s not documented, it wasn’t done.” This is one of the first axioms health information management (HIM) professionals learn. HIM professionals have witnessed the evolution of quality documentation, with patient education becoming the center of healthcare in th....

Author: Fernandez, Valerie

Source: Journal of AHIMA | Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: June 2017

A Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) is defined as a risk adjustment model that is used to calculate risk scores to predict future healthcare costs. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) CMS-HCC model is used to predict healthcare spending for Medicare Advantage Pl....

Author: DeVoe, Megan

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2017

The Impella® device (2.5 and 5.0) provides percutaneous external ventricular support for high-risk patients who cannot undergo traditional open cardiovascular procedures in the inpatient hospital setting. Like intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABPs) that have been used for decades, these de....

Author: Leonard, Janis

Source: Journal of AHIMA | Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: May 2017

Prior to the implementation of ICD-10-CM/PCS, Albany Medical Center (Albany), based in Albany, NY, was struggling with attracting qualified coding candidates. Despite recruitment efforts including sign-on bonuses and incentive pay, Albany was unable to maintain staffing levels to meet the....

Author: Ward, Maria

Source: Journal of AHIMA | Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: May 2017

Coding respiratory cases can sometimes lead to coding professionals getting bogged down in the circle of sequencing instructions, inclusions, and exclusions. This article will help readers gain a better understanding of the differences in the diagnoses that all come with a majority of the....