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More than $ 14.4 million in inaccurate payments were made to Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations due to the submission of incorrect acute stroke diagnosis codes by traditional Medicare providers, as per an audit performed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG). According to the Sept. 16 report, the overpayments […]
The post Miscoded Acute Stroke Diagnoses Cost Millions appeared first on AAPC Knowledge Center.
Tips to improve and streamline your stroke diagnosis coding processes. There are a lot of variables at play when it comes to stroke diagnosis coding in a clinical office setting. That set of variables gets multiplied even further for those coding stroke diagnoses from radiological dictation reports. That’s because there’s a seemingly endless array of […]
The post Maximize Your Stroke Dx Coding appeared first on AAPC Knowledge Center.
May is National Stroke Awareness Month: Recognize this preventable and treatable disease. Strokes kill approximately 140,000 people every year in the United States and up to 80 percent are preventable, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Every second counts when a stroke occurs because approximately two million brain cells die each […]
The post Don’t Ignore the Signs of a Stroke appeared first on AAPC Knowledge Center.
Here’s a hot-off-the-press update from CMS for those who are involved with telehealth—and specifically, telehealth stroke services. Just released, MLN Matters Number: MM11043 (Revision of Definition of the Physician Supervision of Diagnostic Procedures, Clarification of DSMT Telehealth Services, and Establishing a Modifier for Expanding the Use of Telehealth for Individuals with Stroke) and related materials […]
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I am specifically looking for information on physician coding (not facility) of patients that have been admitted to the hospital. We use a 3M encoder and when a patient comes in with, for example, an acute stroke with facial droop, and left-sided weakness, I’ve been coding I63.9, R29.810, and G81.94. However, an auditor recently told me that I should be coding this as I63.9, I69.354, and I69.992. 3M leads me to the first set of diagnosis codes.
It’s my understanding the I69 codes are for residual deficits of an acute stroke, although these residual deficits can be present at the onset of symptoms. Given that I’m coding for a physician who often times will only see the patient once in consultation, how do we know these deficits are going to be residual? Also, are there some guidelines as to when the acute phase of a stroke is over? Is it at discharge or ??
Thanks in advance!