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.
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