May 19, 2023 | By Terry A. Fletcher BS, CPC, CCC, CEMC, CCS, CCS-P, CMC, CMSCS, ACS-CA, SCP-CA, QMGC, QMCRC, QMPM Unless you have been climbing Mount Everest alone with no cell or Wi-Fi services for the past few months, I am certain you have heard of ChatGPT and its use as a form…
April 14, 2023 | By David Glaser It’s almost a staple at conferences attended by coders: you should have insurance! And be careful to make sure you aren’t going to jail! But while these scary speeches may be common, that doesn’t make them accurate. The reality is that it is very, very rare…
May 3, 2022 | By Michele Strickland, CPC, CEMA Research has been on my mind a lot lately. As auditors it is very important that we continually “exercise” our research muscle to make sure we are looking at our auditing from all angles. Rarely is our world black and white, so it is very…
January 6, 2022 | By Shannon DeConda, CPC, CEMC, CEMA, CPMA, CRTT Leaning into a new year, as I sit to write this audit tip, I am reflecting on questions that we have been asked throughout 2022 and wondering if any of these might help everyone launch a new year with greater perspective. Well, one…
May 27, 2022 | By Sonal Patel, CPMA, CPC, CMC, ICDCM I have been privileged to make my entrance into the world of healthcare and medical coding, specifically after my first career as an art historian dissolved way back in 2008 due to the recession. Mind you, I have taken all my research skills,…
An ortho client emailed an interesting question this past week that is a good one to think through. For post-op major joint replacement patients, they would like to send their RN to the patient’s home for follow-up check-in visits. They wanted to provide this as an optional cash pay service. As a compliance forward auditor,…
May 13, 2021 | By Rhonda Buckholtz, Owner, Coding and Reimbursement Experts For years we have talked about the culture in healthcare, especially for compliance purposes but for many practices that culture takes a back seat despite continued guidance. Culture is one of the most important features of a medical practice and for compliance…
April 15, 2022 | Edward Townley CPC, CEMC, CUC, ROCC, Founder, Cogent9 Consulting The action cycle for process improvement may be defined by the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA model) (i.e., the Deming cycle or Shewhart cycle). Lean/Six Sigma process improvement processes use another acronym, DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control). All of these processes are…
April 1, 2022 | By Ray Dunkle, CPA, CFE, CGMA Stakeholders are becoming increasingly interested in companies that value ethical business practices. From employees to investors, people are looking for businesses that adhere to strict environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. In the following, we will explore the importance of an ESG program as…
February 11, 2022 | Aimee L. Wilcox, CPMA, CCS-P, CST, MA, MT, Director of Content, innoviHealth How have you felt when you embarked upon an audit, expecting to find certain basic standards of documentation to be present, but instead found them missing? Do you pull out your favorite red pen, grab a cup of…