Understanding Chronic and Principal Care Management Services (CCM vs. PCM)

  September 29, 2023 | By Grant Huang, CPMA, CPC If you’ve never heard of principal care management (PCM) or chronic care management (CCM) services before, you’re not alone. Medicare introduced these new benefits for Part B beneficiaries in 2021 and 2022, respectively, but the agency’s own utilization data shows that adoption has been fairly…

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Break a Leg! Audit Hazards in Orthopedic Medicine

March 15, 2024 | By Sonal Patel, BA, CPMA, CPC, CMC | CEO & Principal Strategist at SP Collaborative, LLC Introduction Did you know that under-documenting poses an audit hazard for any specialty provider? This is not spoken about too loudly by payors since their primary focus is identifying overpayments, rather than underpayments. Nevertheless, I…

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Evaluation and Management Services: Beyond Box Checking

February 16, 2024 | By Jennifer McNamara, CCS, CPC, CDEO, CPMA, CRC, COSC, CGSC, COPC, AAPC Approved Instructor | CEO, Healthcare Inspired, LLC Beyond Box Checking Compliance with reporting Evaluation and Management (E/M) services often takes center stage and has received much attention in recent years. They are the main revenue stream for Primary Care…

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Breaking Down ICD-10-CM 7th Characters for Traumatic Fractures

March 1, 2024 | By: Crystal May, CCS, CPC, CDEO, CPMA, CRC, Approved Instructor Breaking Down ICD-10-CM 7th Characters for Traumatic Fracture Care: Coders often get overwhelmed with coding traumatic fractures, typically due to the numerous 7th characters available. But coding them isn’t as scary as it seems once you understand how they break down.…

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The Stability Factor: Documenting Chronic Exacerbated Conditions

February 16, 2024 | By Betty A. Hovey, BSHAM, CCS-P, CDIP, CPC, COC, CPMA, CPCD, CPB I have been in the healthcare field for more than 35 years, and remember when we didn’t have Evaluation and Management (E/M) codes. Then, we went through the 1995 and 1997 guidelines from CMS. All the elements, boxes, borders…

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Demystifying EKG and Telemetry for the Non-Clinician

February 23, 2024 | By Anonymous Source Electrocardiograms (EKG or ECG) and telemetry are indispensable tools in the field of cardiac health. They have revolutionized how healthcare professionals diagnose and monitor various heart conditions, from arrhythmias to heart attacks. EKGs record the heart’s electrical activity, while telemetry involves wireless data transmission from a patient’s heart…

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Navigating Healthcare Claims and Audits for Purchased Diagnostic Testing

  February 2, 2024 | By Christine Hall, Senior Consultant, CHC, CPC, CPB, CPMA, CRC, CEMC, CPC-I Certified Instructor Navigating Healthcare Claims and Audits for Purchased Diagnostic Testing: In the complex world of healthcare, accurate reporting of services is crucial for ensuring quality patient care and fair compensation for medical providers. One significant aspect of this…

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Navigating the Importance of the Diagnosis in the Audit Landscape

January 12, 2024 | Kimberly Jolivette Williams, CPC, CPB, CPMA, CPC-I, CANPC, CCC, CEMC Navigating the Importance of the Diagnosis in the Audit Landscape: In our complex and evolving healthcare business landscape, where financial integrity and regulatory compliance are paramount, medical audits stand as a critical tool for safeguarding the fiscal health of medical practices and…

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