The list of Medicare-approved procedures has expanded and it has become very important for orthopaedic practices to be careful in coding for new as well as old procedures. Providers will have to work diligently in order to enhance coding of existing procedures so that there is sufficient time left to concentrate on new ones.
Surgical coding has gone to a complex level with coding revisions that took effect from 1st January 2013. This has pushed physicians to get trained in orthopaedic surgical coding in order to be compliant with the upcoming orthopaedic billing services challenges.
Coders will require timely preparation:
Coders working for orthopaedic practices can face difficulties in coding for multiple injections, orthography, medication and fluoroscopy. Normally, accuracy in documentation can eliminate orthopaedic billing and coding errors. It also makes it easy to appeal the denial; however, lack of time due to increase in workload has affected the accuracy with which physicians perform documentation.
Orthopaedic practices will also have to prepare for ICD-10 code sets that will be implemented from 1st October, 2014. Compared to other specialities, orthopaedics is quite complex and ICD-10 will be expanding codes for this specialty more than any other section.
For Medicare patients, orthopaedic treatment often includes the use of durable medical equipment with physician services. Compared to physician services, DME is billed differently due to which orthopaedic billers and coders will have to submit ICD-10 codes for Part A as well as Part B Medicare claims.
How to protect your practice from orthopaedic coding challenges?
It is difficult to find certified orthopaedic coders and expensive to hire and retain them because not all coders have extensive experience in orthopaedic coding requirements. For instance, orthopaedic surgery coding, especially spine surgery is the most complex of all, presenting various challenges with interfaces, levels, instrumentation unlike other sub-specialities. Turnover of coders also disrupt cash flow for practices.
Considering these factors and lack of time and money, many practices are seeking help from a medical billing service in order to avoid payment loss due to coding errors.
Benefits of outsourcing orthopaedic billing requirements:
Billing services provided by Medicalbillersandcoders.com has been helping small as well as large orthopaedic practices sail through complex orthopaedic coding challenges. We have the largest consortium of certified coders and billers who are well trained in handling orthopaedic coding with the use of latest technology. Our aim is to eliminate your headache of hiring and training coders and giving you ample time to concentrate on patient care.
