All Articles Written by Kathryn Disney-Etienne, CCS-P, RT
All Articles Written by Kathryn Etienne, CCS-P - RETIRED
Welcome to the archived list of all medical billing articles written and previously posted to the site by Kathryn Etienne, CCS-P, retired Director of Operations.
All articles are listed below and categorized by date, newest to oldest. Click any article link below to read the entire article.
Is Your Small Practice Ready for ICD-10?
It’s 193 days to ICD-10 and to be honest, that’s not much time! It’s time to get your practice ready to use ICD-10, but where do you begin? There’s no question it can be overwhelming! Here’s the steps we recommend to any Providers that ask. Let’s get started. Put One Person in Charge First things first, you need to assign the task of overseeing ICD-10 to someone on your staff. It doesn’t matter whether that person is the biller, a coder, the office manager, or someone else. Their goal is to lead the process, ensure things are on task and on target, and to oversee the details. Develop a …
Pediatric Patient History – Who Can Take It?
Contrary to popular belief, it is safe practice to allow any office member to take the review of systems and the family social history. These two evaluation and management history elements can actually be taken by absolutely anyone. It is ok in medical billing for a parent or a secretary to take down this information as long as the information is reviewed and signed off on by the acting pediatrician. The only part of an evaluation and management visit that the physician or nurse practitioner must complete for medical billing purposes is the history of present illness or the reason for the visit. By allowing your administrative staff to complete …
Surefire Tips to Identify Wound Repair Level
Wound repair causes a lot of confusion among medical billers and medical coders. It’s not always easy to identify the level of wound repair involved when reading an operative report. If you cannot quickly ascertain the level of wound repair, then you need to check for a few things. In order to identify wound repair level, you should look to the operative report for these key words and clues: -If a surgeon mentions single layer closure in his or her operative report, it is a simple repair. Simple repairs involve superficial wounds that involve “primarily epidermis, or dermis or subcutaneous tissues without significant involvement of deeper structures” according to the …
Bill One or Bill Twice for 97001/97002?
Patient evaluation codings can be very confusing. The patient initial evaluation code is 97001 (also, 97003, 92506, 92610) however if the patient is reevaluated (97002- patient reevaluation) within a 12 month period only one unit of service may be billed to Medicare Part B patients no matter how much time was spent actually servicing the patient. If you make a mistake and bill the carrier for the evaluation and a unit of service for the reevaluation, your claim will be denied based on incorrect coding no matter how much medical documentation you provide showing the necessity of the reevaluation of the patient. Keeping up with the fast paced changes of …
Is It Time to Outsource Your Medical Billing?
If you are noticing your medical billing claims are taking longer and longer to be reimbursed or you are having denials, rejections, or only partial reimbursements on your medical billing claims, it may be time to look at outsourcing your medical billing claims. You may feel as though you would be giving up control of your cash flow when actually you will have more control than ever. In fact, outsourcing your medical billing and coding needs through a medical billing partner is one of the smartest business moves you can make. The best company to handle your medical billing isn’t necessarily located around the corner from your practice or even …
