October 30, 2020 | By Edward Townley, Founder, Cogent9 Consulting We use relative value units (RVUs) in many aspects of our practices. Some physician compensation arrangements are based on RVUs; other practices use them for staffing models and productivity measurements. Where did RVUs come from and how have they evolved over time? Beginning in…
June 11, 2021 | Edward Townley CPC, CEMC, CUC, ROCC, Founder, Cogent9 Consulting Challenges for patients in cancer care include many devastating factors, including loss of a job or changes in job status, such as switching to part-time work or taking extended leave. For those who have a job to return to, there are…
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…
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…
A question that I get asked repeatedly, that I haven’t taken the time to address in a long time, came up on a webinar that I was doing for orthopedic executives and coders. What happens when a provider sees a patient and then later finds out that they were a resident of a Skilled Nursing…
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…
You know, sometimes, as coders and auditors, we’re the last ones to know about new things that come into the office, but sometimes we should be the first. This past week I got an e-mail from a friend (who is also a client and NAMAS member) who said their office received a new type of…
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,…
January 21, 2022 | By Sean Weiss, CHC, CEMA, CMCO, CPMA, CPC-P, CMPE, CPC While I am sure you have heard it several dozen times by now, I want to welcome you to 2022 because that is where the pleasantries end. 2022 will see Medical Necessity put front & center not only in audits…
January 14, 2022 | By Shannon DeConda, CPC, CEMC, CEMA, CPMA, CRTT In 2022, when we sit down to configure an audit plan, we often consider whether we will perform an audit retrospectively or prospectively and whether the sample will include evaluation and management (E&M) services, procedures or some combination of them both. What we…