Listserv Lately 13
by Suzan Hvizdash, CPC, CRN Senior Auditor, Instructor
It’s been awhile since I’ve been on the list serve. I am going through withdrawal. I was selected for jury duty last week. The case went from Friday to Friday. I am now back in the saddle.
The list had over 100 posts while I was gone. So, I’m confident that the earth is still rotating, coders are still coding, and winter will one day be over.
There was an interesting question posted that makes me proud of the people watching and using the list. A lister was asking about an employee policy manual. When you go from small numbers of employees to larger, you are bound to encounter scenarios that you might not have previously. For obvious reason, you have more people, more life situations, etc. The problem involved an employee wanting to not use her time off days when she had to take two days off because of a car accident. She was paid by the insurance company for those days and wanted to keep those days for something else. In the absence of a policy, what do you do? You make a policy. You don’t want to set a precedent that you can’t live with going forward. Then there’s the legal side of this situation. What can the employee do? What can the employer do? A policy manual is a great tool to consider.
Then onto the subjects of coding…fluorescein stain. Can any MD perform this type of testing? Why was it being done? What’s in the note? If the note indicates that this was part of an E/M service, it might be better to bill for the E/M service. If it was the service substantiated by the documentation billing for the test might be the better way to go.
What about coding for a repeat pap smear? What diagnosis code is best? 795.08? Should you bill an E/M service for this? The list provided some insight on this.
And there was a question about one physician taking over the care of a fracture on a patient operated on in a different city. Can he do this? Is this the most appropriate code for such a service? When is this appropriate to charge? Which modifier should be used? These and other important questions were answered on the list serve this week (but you knew that)!
Remember, as always,
Joining the list serve: $0
Asking questions on the list serve: $0
Finding answers and colleagues on the list serve: Priceless
Until next time,
Juror #3, Suzan