ing competition and coding regu-
lations — certification is expect-
ed to become a necessity by
2020. If your coders are not certi-
fied, consider sending them to
programs hosted by the
American Academy of
Professional Coders (AAPC) and
the American Health Information
Management Association
(AHIMA), 2 groups that are
nationally recognized and consid-
ered the standard for coding.
Don't make careless mistakes
To minimize avoidable
denials and improve turnaround
time, focus on eliminating small
mistakes. Coders must be trained
to understand the importance of
correctly entering patient data
into the system and how to trou-
bleshoot when problems arise.
Transposing a number when
entering a date of birth or insur-
ance ID causes claim rejection
just as easily as using the wrong
modifier or ICD-10 code.
Pre-certification by the insurer
is another small step in a larger
4
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