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CODING & BILLING
Rebecca Overton, CPC
Clean Codes Will Safeguard Your Revenue
You can't afford to submit inaccurate reimbursement claims.
T
wo things you want to avoid at all costs: leaving money on the
table and leaving yourself open to an audit. A coding compliance program can help you avoid both these financial danger
zones.
First, ensuring that
your coding is going
out correctly means
you'll receive optimal reimbursement
for the services performed in your facil-
OUNCE OF PREVENTION Reviewing the accuracy of your coding
reduces the risk of an audit that can put your revenue in jeopardy.
ity. Missed procedures can result in significant missed revenue. In the
ever-changing world of coding, the only way to stay on top of this is
to ensure your coders are trained to correctly abstract the operative
reports and documentation. It can be quite costly if your coder doesn't realize a code is separately reportable for a shoulder arthroscopy.
Missing just 1 CPT code for 1 Medicare shoulder arthroscopy can
reduce reimbursement by $700 to $1,000. Over time, this number
becomes significant if the error goes unnoticed.
Second, auditing your coding reduces the risk of an audit that can
put your revenue at risk. Over-reporting procedures puts the revenue
that you've already realized at risk for a refund to the insurance carriJ A N U A R Y 2013 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
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