By training coders who already are on staff, hospitals leverage institutional knowledge and build career paths.

Changes in payment policies, laws, and regulatory oversight are forcing healthcare organizations to respond to increased regulatory scrutiny and audits. Medicare audits have increased by 936 percent in the past five years*. Ad hoc inpatient audits are no longer enough of a defensive strategy. Robust internal auditing programs are becoming a must for inpatient organizations.

We had a great time at HCCA’s Compliance Institute conference in Las Vegas and enjoyed meeting everyone.  It’s always so exciting to see all of the strategies and methods professionals across the healthcare industry are using to accomplish their diverse goals.

In 1992, CPT coding options for interventional radiology (IR) procedures underwent a seismic shift in “how” to code. Gone was the old method of complete procedure codes (a one-size-fits-all code); the new method added separate options to describe “what was done” and “where or how you did it.”