Q: Are disposable instrumentation tools, those typically used in endoscopic or cardiac procedures, considered integral to the procedure or are they separately chargeable?
Q: We are seeing an influx of possible novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients at our facility. How can we prepare to query for COVID-19-related documentation and coding issues that are bound to come our way due to the newness of the diagnosis?
Q: An employee in a psychiatric hospital’s billing department sees a fellow parishioner’s name. He calls other parishioners to tell them that this individual is a patient at the hospital, and they share this information on a prayer chain. Suddenly, several hundred people know that this parishioner is a patient in a psychiatric hospital. Is this an acceptable disclosure?
Q: What are the HIPAA rules regarding disclosures of health information to a patient’s same-sex partner when the couple is not married or the partner is not considered a relative under the law?
Q: New electronic health record platforms can identify patients who are impacted by social determinants of health (SDoH), but it’s up to case managers to connect patients to resources that will help mitigate these factors. What approaches are most effective in maximizing patient engagement?
Q: How many hours of observation services must a patient receive before the hospital is required to provide them with the Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice (MOON)?
Q: We are seeing more fundoplication surgeries and esophageal sphincter augmentation procedures for patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease at our hospital. Do you have any tips for our coders when reporting these procedures in ICD-10-PCS?
