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?
