Medical Billing Blog: Section - Paper Trail

Archive of all Articles in the Paper Trail Section

This is the archive containing links to all articles written in the Paper Trail section of our blog.

Click any of the article links below to read the entire article or browse another section to the right to read articles on another subject.

Been Hit With Medically Unlikely Edits Denials?

It can happen to any individual who is involved with coding, dealing with MUEs can end up being a nightmare if you do not know when and how to use them. MUEs, which is short for the term Medically Unlikely Edits, happen to be put in place to try and help limit the amount of billing errors. The more you understand them, the better off you will be when you find that you need to use them. If you are worried about dealing with MUEs, then you really should know that you are not alone. Luckily, there are a couple of things that you can look to and keep in

Published By: Melissa Clark, CCS-P | No Comments

Correctly Coding the Top 4 Pediatric Parent Consultations

No one has to tell you that the world of pediatric medicine is fast paced and along with unpredictable kids come unpredictable medical billing situations. If you process medical billing for pediatric physicians, you may or may not have run across a situation for determining what diagnoses would apply when parents come in to discuss their child’s health issues. If you’re wondering if there is a single code, the answer is yes. A parent conference falls under V65.19 (Other persons seeking consultation; other person consulting on behalf of another person). In other words, the code describes a person seeking “advice or treatment for non-attending third party.” Since a parent has

Published By: Melissa Clark, CCS-P | No Comments

Sick Visit Claims Could Be Costing Your Practice

Did you know you might have a cash flow leak and not know it? It’s not uncommon for practices to file medical billing claims without meeting requirements for the use of Modifier 25 in bundled sick claims and doing so could very well be costing your practice valuable reimbursement revenue. Fortunately, there are some simple rules to follow to ensure that you’re getting the best reimbursements for your claims. First of all, make sure that you know exactly what the payer requires for reimbursement on these claims. Next, make sure you document exactly what caused the encounter and what the outcome was. This shows a logical flow of information and

Published By: Melissa Clark, CCS-P | No Comments

With Code 21 – It’s Location, Location, Location!

As you know in processing medical billing for hospital based claims, location of services is everything and you must be certain that the correct place of service coding is used. That is where code 21 comes in handy. Place of service code 21 is used in medical billing for all inpatient hospital care. Code 23 is a lesser used code, but also useful. Admittance of a patient to the hospital will make it necessary to use the inpatient hospital POS code 21. Many medical billers get confused when the emergency department comes into play. They question whether or not they should use place of service code 23 for emergency room-hospital,

Published By: Melissa Clark, CCS-P | No Comments

Increase Your “Foreign Body Removal” Reimbursements

Most foreign body removal procedures are pretty black and white. Only on the rarest of occasions is there a complication and most of the claims can be handled in a similar manner. However in the even the physician is called on to perform soft tissue removal in a FBR procedure, you need to know how to code your medical billing claim s so your reimbursement won’t be paid only partially or denied. Make sure in this event you code the service with 10121 (Incision and removal of foreign body, subcutaneous tissues; complicated). Some giveaways that the FBR procedure was more complex than normal will be found in notes and procedurs

Published By: Melissa Clark, CCS-P | No Comments