On June 3 – 5, 2021 cancer registrars across the country came together for the National Cancer Registrar’s Association (NCRA) 47th Annual Educational Conference. This year’s event was held virtually and offered up to 29.25 continuing education (CE) hours featuring workshops and presentations from the standard-setting agencies and cancer registry community. Conference...

As value-based healthcare models continue to grow, the collection and documentation of social determinants of health data has become a key factor in improving patient care and outcomes. As HIM and Coding Professionals, our role in understanding, collecting and appropriately reporting social determinants of health is more important than ever. What are social determinants...

As coders, we often encounter common coding scenarios that seem straightforward, but we may need to be reminded of applicable guidelines and coding advice. Sometimes this requires us to seek further clarification if the documentation is not clear. With awareness of the documented circumstances and pertinent guidance, the potential implications for inaccurate coding can be...

We have covered the first two steps in this multi-part series. In Step 1 we talked about assembling a team of experts to participate in the study project. In step 2 we identified the problem statement. Now, in Step 3 we will look how the study is conducted and the methodology used to structure the analysis.   Quality studies are, by intent, a process that is used to help...

Active wound care procedures are performed to remove devitalized and/or necrotic tissue to promote healing. Debridement is the removal of foreign material and/or devitalized or contaminated tissue from or adjacent to a traumatic or infected wound until surrounding healthy tissue is exposed. These services are billed when an extensive cleaning of a wound is needed prior to...

There’s an old saying about “writing what you know.” Keeping that in mind, I’ve decided to write a series of blogs about diabetes mellitus (DM) since I have Type 2 DM. Actually, I suspect I really have Type 1.5, AKA LADA. You may not even know the terms Type 1.5 or LADA, as presently, there is no official recognition or code number for Type 1.5. However, before we can...

Quality studies and improvements have much more value than merely meeting a cancer program standards requirement. If planned well and properly conducted, quality studies can energize the members of the team, reduce inefficiencies, increase cost effectiveness, and deliver value to the organization and patients it serves.   Read Part 1 of this article series HERE.  The...

And What the Future Might Hold By Stephanie Kovalick  For years, healthcare industry pundits have been predicting that we’re on the verge of a tipping point in value-based payment (VBP) and/or care. In a 2016 survey of 115 payers by ORC International and commissioned by McKesson, respondents predicted that VBP—such as pay-for-performance, global payment or capitation,...

If you have not heard yet, National Cancer Registrar’s Week (NCRW) is happening this week, April 5-9, 2021. We encourage you to join us by reaching out to your Cancer Registrar(s) to learn more about the work they do and to thank them for their service. This year’s theme, Cancer Registrars: The Driving Force of Cancer Data, underscores the role registrars expertly fill in...

Vaginal deliveries are the most common type of obstetric delivery, but there can be great variety among the diagnoses and procedures involved with these deliveries. Being familiar with pertinent ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS coding guidelines and knowing a little about what the ICD-10-PCS character values for these codes represent will go a long way in helping you make...