This week’s Medicare updates include the CMS pandemic plan, a final rule on Medicare coverage of innovative technology, a final rule on prior authorization process improvements, and more!
Correct coding for diseases of the blood can be difficult due to the lack of official guidance and the complexity of diagnosis. Clear up confusion by taking a closer look at these codes.
Q: Acute respiratory failure is consistently one of our top denied diagnoses. We've tried to address common documentation errors through education but are still seeing issues. How can our CDI staff and coders create more effective queries for this condition?
Ever run into a vendor who claims to be a conduit versus a business associate (BA)? It happens all too often, in my experience. Here’s the problem: The conduit exception is a narrow one. If you’re storing protected health information (PHI), even encrypted PHI where you don’t have the encryption key, you’re a BA. Once you sign the business associate agreement (BAA), it applies to you.
Are your patients skipping needed appointments? A research letter titled Trends in Outpatient Care Delivery and Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the U.S., published in November by JAMA Internal Medicine, hints that this may be the case.
