Coding Commentary

Surprise! It's the No Surprises Act

How to navigate the regulations when providing care to out-of-network and private-pay patients.

How not to suffer retractions

Fastidious preoperative documentation will prove to payers you did the surgery.

Using data for E/M coding

Checking in on where things stand with the updated evaluation and management guidelines a year after they went into effect.

Time for a financial deep dive

A review of your practice’s financial metrics can help you spot problems in your billing system.

Documenting IVI: Avoiding audit traps

Documentation of intravitreal anti-VEGF injections is key as Medicare puts them under the microscope.

EO: If you do it, you should bill it

Extended ophthalmoscopy is a charge retina specialists commonly miss. Here’s how to bill for it.

Is your ‘new normal’ compliant?

A compliance plan can be more than meeting a mandate. It can improve your operations. Here’s a nuts-and-bolts approach.

Clearing up E/M ‘clarifications’

The AMA issued new evaluation and management guidelines that can be hard to appreciate.

New E/M codes are here. Now what?

A strategy for meeting the new requirements for Evaluation and Management codes.

The Stark (law) truth

A look at how the latest revisions to self-referral regulations meant to facilitate collaborative care may impact your practice.

Why was your test payment cut?

Making sense of the Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction.

Untangling the web of ‘bundles’

The National Correct Coding Initiative prohibits selected coding bundles, so if you must bundle, just submit one code—the higher one.

Documentation still counts

In the COVID-19 pandemic, one old rule still applies: If you didn’t write it down, you didn’t do it.

New day for extended ophthalmoscopy

New rules and codes apply starting this year. The requirements are tighter and the reimbursements lower.

Coding for surgery in the postop period

How to use modifiers 58, 78 and 79 for a planned or unplanned trip back to the OR.

Is laser for vitreous floaters covered?

Answers to one of the most common questions our coding expert gets.

2019 updates, changes and trends

Some of the coding changes are minor, others not so. Here’s a rundown.

Challenges With Silicone Oil Removal

Four scenarios that can help you determine the right coding for complicated cases.

Demystifying the Global Surgical Package

When you can and cannot bill for services during the 90-day surgical global period.

Yet Another Medicare Audit Process

Here’s what you can expect from and how you can prepare for a Targeted Probe and Education review.