Talk Ten Tuesdays

February is Black History Month, and Talk Ten Tuesdays is recognizing it with an appearance by Dr. Crystal Watkins, who shares thoughts about her ascension from an African-American student in the Baltimore City Public Schools to becoming an MD, PhD, neuroscientist, and finally director of The Memory Clinic at Sheppard Pratt Health System. Dr. Watkins' appearance coincides with news that the A...

Every patient receiving an implantable cardioverters defibrillators (ICDs) for primary prevention will be required to have an encounter for shared decision-making using an evidence-based decision tool, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). ICDs are often implanted in patients with chronic heart failure whose life expectancy is limited and whose quality of life tends...

February is American Heart Month, and in recognition of this national focus, this episode of Talk Ten Tuesdays will center on how cardiology diagnosis coding for myocardial infarction (MI) is being impacted in 2018. There are now five types of MI code categories. Joining the podcast as our special guest is Terry Fletcher, who reports on these new options and how they will impact your reimbursement...

Are medical decision-making and medical necessity one in the same? Often, bad advice tends to circulate regarding how to select the correct evaluation and management (E&M) codes. Healthcare attorney David Glaser was the first to break a news story involving Highmark’s recent policy – evidently recently rescinded – that required physicians to use medical decision-making as a key component of co...

Renal disease has been complicating obstetrics coding. For the first time on Talk Ten Tuesdays, two subject matter experts delve into this subject, which is rife with confusion and contradiction. The key question is this: is renal disease a medical condition caused by the pregnancy, or a preexisting medical condition complicating the pregnancy? That is why we asked Linda Holtzman from Clarity Codi...

Coding chronic conditions and co-morbidities is becoming increasingly critical as the healthcare landscape shifts toward value-based care, which attempts to advance the triple aim of providing better care for individuals, improving population health management strategies, and reducing healthcare costs. Reporting our lead story on this edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays is Machaelle Diaz, senior program...

Senior healthcare consultant Michelle Wieczorek returns to discuss six ideas she says will improve performance indicators for coding and clinical documentation integrity (CDI) departments. Wieczorek, who is a senior manager in the DHG Healthcare CFO advisory team, also discusses the ever-increasing importance of Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCCs) in the world of value-based care. Other segme...