Is your ED making costly coding errors?

Is your ED making costly coding errors?

Beware of mistakes regarding facility procedures

Here is a list of common coding errors or omissions of facility procedures, identified by Caral Edelberg, CPC, CCS-P, president and CEO of Jacksonville, FL-based Medical Management Resources/TeamHealth:

• failure to accurately identify facility levels consistent with written criteria;
• coding of simple instead of intermediate laceration repairs;
• coding of simple instead of complicated incision and drainage;
• failure to identify separately identifiable procedures accurately (e.g., fractures, dislocations, splints, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, infusions, and injections);
• coding for intravenous administration and fluids with the wrong codes or omitting them entirely;
• omission of coding for intramuscular antibiotics;
• improper use of the -25 modifier and other facility-required modifiers, without which claims are suspended or denied;
• listing diagnostic tests under the wrong revenue center;
• errors in reporting multiple visits on the same calendar day to the emergency department;
• omitting an appropriate facility level when billing facility procedures.