Healthcare Industry Articles
Welcome to our news and healthcare industry updates. Here you will find monthly “blogs” written by our CEO, Terry Fletcher, including information relevant to medical billing and coding, compliance, including important news and updates from AMA®, CMS, OIG, Commercial Payers, and other Healthcare industry authoritative resources.
Terry will also post a quarterly “Top Ten” Q&A Blog that comes from her weekly CodeCast™ Podcast, where she podcasts on the Top Ten Tuesday membership questions and answers frequently.
Please check back frequently as new articles are posted monthly.
PHE Extended But Some Waivers Expired
April 25, 2022
The PHE was renewed another 90-days effective April 16th, 2022, but what 1135 waivers expired? Renewal of Determination That A Public Health Emergency Exists As a result of the continued …
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Renewal of Determination That A Public Health Emergency Exists
October 19, 2021
As a result of the continued consequences of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, on this date and after consultation with public health officials as necessary, I, Xavier Becerra, Secretary …
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Are you a HIPAA entity? The “Privacy Law” is probably not what you think.
September 10, 2021
If you have heard the acronym HIPAA thrown around a lot lately, you are probably thinking, “Do I know what HIPAA means?”. So many are throwing that term around in …
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Renewal of Determination That A Public Health Emergency Exists
July 19, 2021
As a result of the continued consequences of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, on this date and after consultation with public health officials as necessary, I, Xavier Becerra, Secretary …
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Answers to AMA/CPT® 2021 E/M Documentation rules and Errata Clarifications
May 17, 2021
Ever since the release of the new 2021 Evaluation and Management (E/M) guidelines for Office and Other Outpatient Services, ICD10University has been conducting numerous provider and staff educational training sessions …
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Telehealth, Now and after PHE
March 11, 2021
As we are now well into 2021, and over 12-months from the beginning of the first announced PHE (public health emergency), the past year has been a whirlwind of medical …
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Telehealth spotlight and post-pandemic Medicare audits
May 21, 2020
Over the past several weeks, we have seen unprecedented changes to rules, edits, and other measures traditionally put in place to stave fraud, waste, and abuse in the healthcare industry. …
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Urgent Telemedicine update from CMS and the White House
March 17, 2020
COVID-19 Regulatory Alert: Medicare Telehealth Services Restrictions Lifted Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar’s waiver authority …
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Modifier 22 Letter
October 18, 2019
As promised, below is my Modifier 22 Letter to assist in appealing claims: when the procedure or surgery was an “increased procedural service” and the reimbursement on the fee schedule …
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The Dangers of “Cloned Notes E/M” in Healthcare Practices
August 15, 2019
The practice of cloned or copy and pasted documentation is a significant issue in the use of electronic health records (EHRs). A recent study in the Journal of the American …
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Professionalism in the Healthcare Profession
July 18, 2019
Do you magically become a professional when you obtain a certificate that says you attended school for a certain amount of time? There are ways to represent professionalism, but what …
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Email like a boss
July 1, 2019
Sometimes the smallest things can make all of the difference when you are a boss, supervisor, administrator, team leader, manager, etc, trying to have the face of credibility but also …
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E/M Documentation Revisions for 2021 are around the corner
March 25, 2019
AMA is on track to revise E/M codes and set new documentation guidelines. What was considered to only target the Office and Other Outpatient visits, has now been expanded to …
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You only have one chance to make a first impression
February 8, 2019
We have all heard the phrase “You can never make a first impression twice”. This hold’s true for almost anything in life. Job interviews, first dates, and yes, the first …
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What is a Remote Coder?
January 24, 2019
A career as a remote coder allows you to work remotely in the healthcare field and use your computer skills to access what you need to fulfill the job requirements …
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CMS Physician Final Fee Schedule for 2019
December 13, 2018
There seems to be a lot of confusion that the E/M codes and levels are changing in 2019. This is NOT accurate. The changes to the levels of E/M’s and …
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Make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change
November 15, 2018
My daughter has one more semester of student teaching before she is a full-fledged high school teacher at 23 years old. After countless hours of hard work, test preparation and …
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How to break into the Healthcare field as a medical coder
November 1, 2018
As the population ages, the need for medical coders is growing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects this field to grow by 21% through 2020, a rate much higher …
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