Now that we offer a Student Edition of the Coding Suite, a common question is whether students should stick to paper, or if using companion electronic tools offer any advantages.  These are smart questions!  Perhaps after the switch to ICD-10, the testing organizations will be more open to electronic books, but in the mean time, let's discuss the interplay between paper-based and electronic codi

I'm writing an article to discuss the power of key word searching to find codes, rather than looking in a book or trusting a code-range search, and the Mammography codes are a great example.  The key word search in our Code Explorer tool for the term mammogra* finds all Mammogram and Mammography codes.  Scrolling down makes it easy to see which codes are used for measurement reporting, which codes are payable, and you can even see the payment rate, adjusted to your locality or provider!

November Update: HCPCS and BETOS updates have been included in the HCPCS & CPT Pre-release Codebook! Check daily e-mail updates for the changes report, the download center for a much easier to use HCPCS data file than the one CMS publishes, and the bottom of the codebook for a series of very helpful index files.  Read the entire blog update here: http://www.mediregs.com/blog/2010/09/procedure-codes-2011-update.htm

Within the listing of 2010 HCPCS posted by CMS on November 2nd laboratorians will see two new G-codes that redefine coding of qualitative drug analysis billed to Medicare.

The 2010 HCPCS Level II update is now available in CCH Coding Comply. The updated data files became available on CMS’ website late Monday Night. It is anticipated that this update will be released in the HCPCS and CPT electronic code book in the Coding Suite and RRS sometime next week. When complete, a link will be provided in the “Hot Topics” box on the Welcome page of the Coding Suite.

CMS has determined that open and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, and open and laparoscopic biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch in Medicare beneficiaries who have type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and a body mass index (BMI) less than 35 is no longer considered reasonable and necessary. It has been determined that these same procedures do improve health in patients with T2DM with a BMI greater than 35 so they are still considered reasonable and necessary in those situations.

The 2009 HCPCS level II annual update has been released! This update includes approximately 140 new codes, 178 modified codes and 73 deleted codes.

2011 Update: Medicaid MUEs are now included, so there are 6 different MUE tables.  To get to this info, you have 2 choices, browse or search.

A smart user who has access to both the CCH Reimbursement Toolkit Hospital Outpatient PPS Calculator and the MediRegs APC Grouper & Calculator in RRS/Plus has asked:
What is the difference between these 2 calculators?
I thought I’d share the summary with MediBloggers. Note that you’ll see reference here to the exciting new Coding & Audit Suites which will be available shortly.

There are 2 APC Calculators Available. Let me summarize them for you here: