Published on Wed Mar 07, 2007 PDF

Bonus: This summary can put you 1 CEU closer to reaching your renewal requirement

If you're a Certified Professional Coder (CPC) through the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC), your quest for annual CEUs just got easier: You can use Medical Office Billing & Collections Alert to quickly earn your continuing education unit credits.

Use What You Already Have

Good news: The AAPC allows you to submit up to six CEU credits each year for "related core competency subjects" such as billing and compliance. You can also use the coding articles from Medical Office Billing & Collections Alert to earn CEUs.

Using the Medical Office Billing & Collections Alert articles "is a great source for getting CEUs," says Wendy Willes, head of the CEUs/Member Services department of the AAPC. "It encourages coders to read the articles that are so informative to their career and specialty. If they are subscribing [to Medical Office Billing & Collections Alert], they will not only get information pertaining to their career but will also be able to obtain CEUs at the same time."

How it works: Look for key words such as "example," "scenario" and "op report," says Erin Lang Bonin, PhD, CPC, editorial director of Eli Research. "I look for those sorts of words and often find ready-made scenarios I can use to earn my CEUs."

Next step: Put this sample submission in your file and turn it in to AAPC for a ready-made CEU.

Capture 1 CEU With This Sample

Summary: Newsletter--Medical Office Billing & Collections Alert

When a physician uses Mohs micrographic surgery to remove complex or ill-defined skin cancer with histologic examination of 100 percent of the surgical margins tissue and examines the excised tissue to locate remaining suspicious cells, you should report codes 17311-17315 (Mohs micrographic technique, including removal of all gross tumor, surgical excision of tissue specimens ...). For areas of the head, neck, hands, feet, genitalia "or any location with surgery directly involving muscle, cartilage, bone, tendon, major nerves or vessels," you should turn to 17311 and 17312. For all other areas, you should report 17313 and 17314. You can report add-on code 17315 for "each additional block after the first 5 tissue blocks, any stage," regardless of location. You should never list a pathology exam code in addition to the surgical Mohs code for the same service.
("Get Up-to-Speed on Mohs Micrographic Surgery Code Revisions" Medical Office Billing & Collections Alert Vol. 7, No. 1.)