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.
Two Removals are Similar and Different
To avoid raised rejection of your medical billing claims for similar procedures that will be coded due to different removals or different parts of the body affected, you need to make sure you have iron-clad documentation. In some cases, you will come across two removals that are very similar, but different. For example, if a pediatrician removes an extra digit from a newborn’s hand, and also removes a skin tag from the newborn, the removal of an extra digit and the removal of a skin tag fall under the same CPT code but fall into different ICD-9 codes. For these two procedures, you should report 11200 (11200 is the removal …
Watch Out for New Medical Billing DNA Test
Keeping current with your medical billing codes could help your lab succeed. New tests and lab works are developed each and every year. Some of these new tests have a positive impact on your medical billing, while others have no impact at all. A new test call Fluorescence Chain Reaction (FCR) may have an extremely positive impact on your medical billing. Fluorescence Chain Reaction is a brand new lab test that checks human DNA. The amazing aspect of this test is the short amount of time needed to retrieve results. This method takes less than five minutes to produce accurate information. Although insurance payers may be more familiar with the …
Medical Billing Conversion Factor Cut 4.4 Percent
Medical Billing Conversion Factor Cut 4.4 Percent Medical billing reimbursements are looking dismal for 2006. Although inflation rises, the Medicare conversion factor will lower from 2005 to 2006. You may need to find other areas in your practice to compensate for medical billing reimbursement loss. In early November of 2005, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services released the 2006 fee schedule for physicians. The Medicare conversion factor, that has a lot to do with payment fee schedules, was slashed by 4.4%. The medical billing conversion factor and relative value units are the two major factors used in the schedule construction. In 2005 the conversion factor was 37.8975. This year, …
Circumcision Medical Billing
Circumcision Medical Billing There are two main circumcision medical billing codes. Although one code is used more often, there are two that are acceptable. The two medical billing codes used for newborns circumcision are 54150 and 54160. 54150 means, circumcision, using clamp or other device; newborn. The current procedural terminology code 54160 means circumcision surgical excision other than clamp, device or dorsal slit; newborn. As you read a circumcision with any type of device or clamp uses the code 54150. Most physicians use this medical billing code because it is the most common way to perform a circumcision. Another important point to remember is to charge for a ring block …
Global Billing for Ob-Gyn Services
One of the common dilemmas in medical billing for Ob-Gyn services is how to report the birth of a baby when there was no doctor on hand to deliver the newborn. When the delivery is progressing trouble-free, it isn’t uncommon is for a nurse to deliver a baby when the ob-gyn is in the next room doing a procedure on another patient such as an episiotomy; then the question arises, can the service still be billed globally? Fortunately in many cases you can. It is up to the individual payer and you can find out quickly by either checking their guidelines or website to see if the service will be …
