Thyroid disorders challenge outpatient hospital coders because the record often contains symptoms, laboratory values, medications, imaging findings, and surgical history before it contains a clear final diagnosis. Those clues can help a coder understand the encounter, but they do not authorize the coder to diagnose the patient.
This week’s Medicare updates include recent fraudulent billing activity among certain DMEPOS suppliers, a final decision memo on coverage of transcatheter aortic valve replacements, and more!
The prevalence of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) in U.S. hospitals declined between 2015 and 2023, according to a CDC survey recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
UnitedHealthcare is fulfilling its pledge to reduce prior authorization requirements by 30% by the end of the year. Starting October 1, 2026, the insurer will no longer require approval for more than 1,700 procedure codes across various plans.
