Biggest Loser - Bariatric Surgery Coding

Overview:

The Biggest Loser is a television show that centers on overweight contestants attempting to lose weight to fight for a cash prize. There are different variations of the Biggest Loser around the world. However, the contestants always have the same goal: to lose the highest percentage of weight (or most weight) to become the Biggest Loser. While this makes for interesting and exciting television the participants are suffering from morbid obesity and are desperate to lose the weight and to become healthy. While some would lose weight with traditional diet and exercise programs some people cannot. It is when the traditional means for weight loss fails that patient’s turn to bariatric surgery.

Weight loss (bariatric) surgery is a unique field, in that with one operation, a person can be potentially cured of numerous medical diseases including diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, chronic headaches, venous stasis disease, urinary incontinence, liver disease, and arthritis. There are various surgical options for patients and during this webinar we will be detailing these various procedures and what a bariatric surgeon looks for in determining the best plan for that patient. We will discuss the coding that goes hand-in-hand with the surgeries from documentation standards to the proper coding aspects of these cases.

You Will Learn:

• Basic understanding of morbid obesity and what would qualify a patient for surgery
• The basics of the different surgeries and combination of surgeries used by bariatric surgeons to accomplish maximum safe results for patients and new procedures/treatments that might be on the horizon
• The basic proper coding techniques for these surgeries including CPT, ICD9, and HCPCS codes

CEU approved for all CPCs, CPMAs, CPC-Hs, CPC-Ps and the following specialties: CGIC, CGSC, CPRC

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About The Presenter

Shelly Cronin, CPC, CPMA, CPC-I, CANPC, CGIC, CGSC
Business Development and Member Relations - AAPC

Shelly has been in the health care industry for 10 years with a background in billing, psychiatric, anesthesia, and general surgery coding. She founded and served as President of the St. Louis East Local AAPC Chapter from 2009-2010. She has served on the AAPCCA Board of Directors and on the Executive Board as the Meeting Coordinator from 2009-2010. She was the Chair of the Liaison Committee while she served on the AAPCCA Board of Directors. Shelly has spoken at AAPC National Conferences and at local chapter meetings, and has also been published on various coding topics. Prior to her employment with AAPC, she was the Coding/Claims Coordinator for the Transplant section of Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, Missouri.

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