Practice Management Alert

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, pages 3-5.)