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Orthopedic Coding Alert

Fix Facet Joint Injection Coding in Wake of Startling OIG Report

Published on Tue Mar 03, 2009

Agency combed everything from injections to consulting agreements. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), in its semiannual report to Congress issued on Dec. 3, 2008, reports it recovered more than $20 billion in fiscal year 2008 -- much of which reflects dollars recouped from physicians who billed improperly. The report lists several audit and investigation highlights that allowed the OIG to recover such huge amounts of money. Among the many surprises that may impact your practice, the OIG found that 63 percent of facet joint injection claims, for instance, did not meet program requirements, for a total of $96 million in Medicare overpayments to physicians. "I-m not surprised by this, because there's a lot of confusion in the coding community regarding reporting these services," says Kristi Stumpf, MCS-P, CPC, COSC, ACS-OR, compliance specialist at Proliance Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Bellevue, Wash. Fix Facet Joint Injection Errors The top [...]
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