Primary Health Care in Des Moines, Iowa, recently announced an email breach of its system one year after discovery. This exceeds the timeframe outlined in the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule, which states that organizations are required to report a breach within 60 days of discovery.
Q: We are having trouble determining what qualifies a patient as having an acute myocardial infarction (MI) and what documentation would support the diagnosis. Can you help our coding team clarify?
A national coverage determination (NCD) related to implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) is causing some confusion. The NCD was issued on February 15, and the changes, while billed as “relatively minimal,” may actually require significant process alterations.
This week's note from the instructor highlights billing and coding regulations for specimen validity tests billed in combination with urine drug tests in the wake of an OIG audit which found a 99% error rate for these claims.
Q. I’ve been taught to tell our patients, “We look forward to seeing you on x day at x time with x doctor.” This has always been left on cell phone voice mails or home phones. Is this a HIPAA-compliant practice?
