Three Intensive Mistakes Pediatric Coders Can Stay Away From

By Author: Julia Rose
Total Articles: 89
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Your inpatient coding needs a checkup if you're bundling resuscitation with initial intensive, jumping from normal newborn codes to subsequent critical or intensive care or omitting weight from subsequent intensive care (SIC) notes.


Watch these steps to avoid goof-ups in your inpatient coding:


At a conference held earlier, it was revealed that the majority of coders were not seeing a weight statistic per day on subsequent intensive care charts. Do not flip back a day or days in the chart to code based on the infant's last recorded weight as this is not the right way to go about.


Here's why: You should go for SIC codes based on the infant's present body weight, not birth weight.


See to it that you use 1 Initial CC/IC first when an inpatient normal newborn requires critical care.


Here's why: A patient cannot go from regular first or second day care to subsequent critical or intensive care.


But remember that just because a newborn requires resuscitation in the delivery room doesn't mean the patient will need ...
... critical care services. There are some neonates who require resuscitation but later their condition becomes stable in the resuscitation/delivery room and do not require admission to a critical care status but rather an intensive care status.


For more information on inpatient coding, attend pediatric coding seminars and conferences and avoid payment slip ups.


In fact, there's a pediatric coding conference coming up in Orlando, FL this December which will let you in on all that you need to know about pediatric coding so that denials don't come anywhere near you.


Gain knowledge about medical coding by attending proper medical coding conferences along with premier coding experts, CDs, tapes and transcripts of coding training information by specialty.