Hematology Coding: Implementing New Changes

By Author: Julia Rose
Total Articles: 89
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Hematology is a branch of medical science that deals with the study of blood, blood-forming organs, and blood diseases. Medical coders who specialize in hematology coding convert the diagnosis and procedures related to hematology into medical codes according to the established standard. With a firm knowledge of the field of hematology, they are expected to have the proficiency to perform CPT, HCPCS, and ICD coding according to the guidelines.


The ICD-9 brings in updates every year and there are changes more than you can imagine of reporting a particular disorder. Hematology coding is quite demanding and when it comes to the updates, you should be able to implement the changes in a short time, or you would face denials for using deleted, obsolete or truncated codes. And without proving a medical necessity, your practice could face more denials - which you cannot afford. Realize that ICD-9 is the key to prove medical necessity.


Loopholes in medical coding ...
... for reporting newly bundled services cause concerns and coding professionals need to understand, more so when you are about to use a modifier to get paid for multiple services. For example, to indicate that codes represent separate services as opposed to unbundling, append modifier -59 to override the edit and for clinical lab tests conducted more than once a day, use modifier -91 can be used. These are just some of the scenarios concerning modifiers.


The bottom-line is that you need to work on your strategies and tricks to implement the new hematology coding changes and make sure you cash in every chance as you report your providers services with the new codes.


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