Articles

Spotlight on up-to-date coding

When a payer comes calling | Responding to payer audit

Medical practices receive many communications from payers that aren’t indicative of a problem. A payer needs more information to process a claim. Or, … [Read more...]

Teaching Physician Rules – Psychiatric Services

Billing for psychiatric services under the teaching physician rules Psychiatrists use two distinct sets of codes, and so must know two sets of … [Read more...]

E/M frequency data for psychiatrists

CMS releases E/M frequency data annually. A physician self-elects their specialty designation when enrolling with Medicare. This is the data for … [Read more...]

E/M frequency data for infectious disease, pulmonary medicine and cardiology

Betsy Nicoletti, 02/01/2019 CMS releases E/M frequency data annually. A physician self-elects their specialty designation when enrolling with … [Read more...]

Physician specialty codes and claims processing

When physicians enroll in Medicare, they self-elect their specialty designation. In the enrollment process, there are fields to indicate primary and … [Read more...]

Diagnosis coding for dermatology

Diagnosis notes for dermatology Be sure to match the diagnosis to the procedure. For example, For skin tag removal, use skin tag For … [Read more...]

Screening for skin cancer

Dermatologists frequently see patients for skin checks, to examine their skin for signs of pre-malignant or malignant lesions. Some of these patients … [Read more...]

Coding for breast procedures: biopsy, localization devices, and surgery

From biopsy to localization device to mastectomy, coding for breast procedures can be challenging. This article summarizes the rules related to these … [Read more...]

Chronic care management services (CCM), CPT^® 99491: new code in 2019

CPT® has added 99491 to the section of chronic care management codes. The other code in this section is 99490 and there are two codes in the complex … [Read more...]

E/M frequency data for surgical specialties

Betsy Nicoletti, 02/01/2019 CMS releases E/M frequency data annually. A physician self-elects their specialty designation when enrolling with … [Read more...]

Overview of Medicare telehealth services

Medicare covers some services performed via real-time audio and video between a patient in an underserved area and a physician or other practitioner … [Read more...]

Pre-operative clearance in primary care

Primary care practices are frequently asked to do preoperative evaluations or clearances on their own patients by a surgeon. Although a routine … [Read more...]

E/M frequency data for dermatology: Let’s see the numbers

For dermatologists, revenue in the office is generated by procedures and office visits. Often, both are provided on the same day, and CodingIntel has … [Read more...]

Repair (closure) CPT^® 12001–13160–2020 update

Laceration or wound repair codes are reported based on the type of repair (simple, intermediate, complex), the anatomic location, and the length … [Read more...]

Describe the exam | E/M services for dermatology

What do you need to document for the exam? According to the Documentation Guidelines, exam findings must be documented. It is not sufficient to … [Read more...]

Destruction of benign and pre-malignant lesions

There are several factors to consider when coding for destruction of benign and pre-malignant lesions. Let's begin with a definition. From the CPT® … [Read more...]

Coding for Mohs Micrographic Surgery

Mohs surgery is performed to remove complex or ill-defined skin cancer, and the procedure includes both the surgery and histopathologic examination. … [Read more...]

Using Time to Select a Code | Dermatology

Some Evaluation and Management codes, and some other codes are defined by the amount of time of the service. When a CPT® code is defined by … [Read more...]

Excisions of benign and malignant lesions | Dermatology

Skin lesion excisions are reported using codes from the integumentary section: Excision of benign lesions: 11400—11471 Neoplasms … [Read more...]

Other dermatologic procedures

This aricle reviews the codes and guidelines for these dermatologic procedures; Intralesional injections, photodynamic therapy, phototherapy, and … [Read more...]