Pediatric Coding Alert

Uncircled vaccines, administrations could cost your practice 10%. Think increasing payments in 2010 is a fairy tale? Your magic wand is right at your front desk. "Check-out coding can have a significant financial impact," reported Norman "Chip" Harbaugh, MD, in "Vaccine Reimbursement -- Quite a Quandary" at The Coding Institute's December 2010 Pediatric Coding and Reimbursement Conference in Orlando. Not having the check-out person make sure the pediatrician circles all performed services and procedures can cost a practice with median collections of $556,000 between 2.2 percent to 10.2 percent or $12,340 to $57,000. To shore up those payment holes, train your front desk staff to spot two signs of overlooked coding opportunities. #1:Verify 90476-90749, 90465-90474 on Crying Departees If you have a well child age two or younger who comes to the check-out window crying, there's a good chance he's just received his needed shots. The pediatrician may have circled the [...]