No doubt, cardiology is one of the toughest medical expertise fields. It involves various procedures including surgeries like; catheter ablation, cardiac catheterization, balloon angioplasty, coronary artery stent, atherectomy, valvuloplasty and many others. Due to the increased heart complications, cardiologists have tight schdeules_leaving little to no time for managing the revenue cycle management. Despite witnessing a high patient volume, the majority of the cardiologists are still lagging behind their revenue goals. Which could be quite frustrating and overwhelming for any practitioner. Did you have any idea what the major reason behind this revenue loss is? The answer is very obvious. Declining reimbursements, excessive claim denials and cash flow disruption clearly imply that your cardiology billing services are not efficient enough.
Medical billing and coding for cardiovascular or other heart-related medical services are complicated in nature and unique as well. Before moving ahead, let me clarify the misconception about insurance coverage. Fortunately, insurance companies including government and private entities do support the cardiology procedures under insurance coverage. Getting reimbursements from the payers highly depends on the efficiency of your cardiology billing and coding systems. There are certain challenges that medical billers have to face while creating claims for the healthcare services rendered. But ‘medical coding’ has become one of the major headaches for practitioners.
Assigning the right procedural and diagnostic codes isn’t as easy as it may seem. Payers get the information about the patient diagnosis, symptoms, prescriptions, medical equipment and procedure through these codes. Failure to submit the claims with accurate medical codes not only leads to the claim denials. But the errors like; upcoding, undercoding, unbundling, incorrect modifiers can also trigger fraud investigations and lawsuits. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that coding is crucial from both financial as well as compliance perspectives.
Handle Cardiology Coding and Billing Efficiently
From the last few years, cardiology has witnessed rapid developments in terms of technology, cardiovascular procedures, payers policies, billing and coding guidelines. Moreover, the latest updates in the ICD-10 and CPT codes have made the revenue cycle more complicated than ever before. Looking for innovative ways to streamline the process of medical coding? Then you are at the right place. In this article I have compiled the tips to overcome the coding challenges_so you can collect your hard-earned revenue in a timely manner.
Know the Most Common Medical Codes
We all know the fact that memorising each and every code is not possible for the human brain. However, make sure that your coding staff is well-experienced and have a complete understanding of the common coding classifications such as; HCPCS, ICD-10, CPT etc. They should know about the use of the right code at the right place. According to industry experts, medical coding becomes easier when the staff have the commonly used codes for certain procedures at their fingertips. Here are the following codes that physicians should also know about:
93010: Electrocardiogram, routine ECG with at least 12-leads; interpretation and report only
93015: Cardiovascular stress test using a maximal or submaximal treadmill or bicycle exercise, continuous electrocardiographic monitoring.
In addition to this, below are the medical codes that are being outlined in the 2021 CPT code set.
9324: External electrocardiographic recording for more than 48 hours up to 7 days by continuous rhythm recording and storage; includes recording, scanning analysis with report, review and interpretation
93242: External electrocardiographic recording for more than 48 hours up to 7 days by continuous rhythm recording and storage; recording (includes connection and initial recording)
93243: External electrocardiographic recording for more than 48 hours up to 7 days by continuous rhythm recording and storage; scanning analysis with report
93244: External electrocardiographic recording for more than 48 hours up to 7 days by continuous rhythm recording and storage; review and interpretation
93245: External electrocardiographic recording for more than 7 days up to 15 days by continuous rhythm recording and storage; includes recording, scanning analysis with report, review and interpretation
93246: External electrocardiographic recording for more than 7 days up to 15 days by continuous rhythm recording and storage; recording (includes connection and initial recording)
93247: External electrocardiographic recording for more than 7 days up to 15 days by continuous rhythm recording and storage; scanning analysis with report
93248: External electrocardiographic recording for more than 7 days up to 15 days by continuous rhythm recording and storage; review and interpretation
Be Aware of Combo Codes
ICD-10-CM has several combination codes for different cardiology diseases. Therefore, make sure that your coding staff is well-versed with the accurate use of such combinations and report the patients’ conditions appropriately. It is the responsibility of the physician to make sure that their billing and coding staff undergo constant training. They must have a complete know-how of when, how and where they can use the precise medical codes. In this way, they will also stay at the top of the constant changes in Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) and the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS).
Audit Periodically
Physician billing and coding audit!
You all are undoubtedly well-aware of this term. It is very important for the providers to conduct regular external or internal audits_depnds on the size or needs of the healthcare practice. It is the most proven way to measure the effectiveness and accuracy of medical documentation and the medical billing system. Audits help you to identify the loopholes in the RCM process and more importantly the expensive coding errors. That can cause financial as well as legal troubles. Furthermore, it points towards the requirement for extra education and training for staff.
Rely on Capable Staff
As we have already discussed, the medical coding and billing for cardiology services are very time consuming and complicated. It requires particular expertise, skills and knowledge. Therefore, it’s crucial for the physicians to hand over this responsibility to the AAPC certified and highly trained medical coders. Because the financial and overall success of your health care practice is in the hands of the billing and coding staff. If you find it difficult to bear the expenses of managing an in-house RCM team. Then you must seriously think about outsourcing physician billing services to a trusted third party. Collaboration with professional billing service providers always comes with immense benefits. For instance, it saves your valuable resources and works diligently to take your business to new heights of profitability and productivity. Off-shore billing and coding experts take the pain out of your entire revenue cycle management. As a result, you can enjoy improved billing collections, reduced financial and administrative burdens.
0
Sign in to leave a comment.