New Medical-Billing System Provides Precision; Nine Codes for Macaw Mishaps
Today, hospitals and doctors use a system of about 18,000 codes to describe medical services in bills they send to insurers. Apparently, that doesn't allow for quite enough nuance.
A new federally mandated version will expand the number to around 140,000—adding codes that describe precisely what bone was broken, or which artery is receiving a stent.
It will also have a code for recording that a patient's injury occurred in a chicken coop. (See code.)
Indeed, health plans may never again wonder where a patient got hurt. There are codes for injuries in opera houses (see code), art galleries (see code), squash courts (see code) and nine locations in and around a mobile home (see codes), from the bathroom to the bedroom. . .
Some codes could seem downright insulting: R46.1 is "bizarre personal appearance (see code)," while R46.0 is "very low level of personal hygiene (see code)."
It's not clear how many klutzes want to notify their insurers that a doctor visit was a W22.02XA, "walked into lamppost, initial encounter" (or, for that matter, a W22.02XD, "walked into lamppost, subsequent encounter").
Why are there codes for injuries received while sewing, ironing, playing a brass instrument, crocheting, doing handcrafts, or knitting—but not while shopping, wonders Rhonda Buckholtz, who does ICD-10 training for the American Academy of Professional Coders, a credentialing organization.
Code V91.07XA, which involves a "burn due to water-skis on fire (see codes)," is another mystery she ponders: "Is it work-related?" she asks. "Is it a trick skier jumping through hoops of fire? How does it happen?"
Note: I tried real hard to find an image of somebody water skiing with their skis on fire, or even jumping through a flaming hope. Nada. In fact, I've never heard of anybody water skiing on flaming skis. Do I simply lead a sheltered existence? Help me out here.
9 comments:
I received a legal document from a telecom provider at my work. This document was a simple two page approval form to allow them access to our cable facilities onsite. I turned it over to our legal department to approve. It came back and apparently they fed it well while it stayed with them because it had fattened up to five pages.
Damn the lawyers Shakespear was right!
Grenadier1
I need to contact them and add "African Greys" and "Red lored Amazons" to the parrot list. I have both in my home, and I wouldn't want any of my house guests to be denied medical aid because my pets were not on the list.
Maybe they were trying to code this.
http://bubbyswatershows.com/fire_ride_150.jpg
Here is skiers and a flaming hoop, though it is snow skiing.
http://ts2.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1055628003633&id=61734e24a873ac95a82492f08c7be698&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.whistlerluxurycondos.com%2fimages%2ffire-and-ice-show.jpg
Looks like a job for photoshop.
These code will be used to deny medical service payment once we are forced into a single payer system by Obama care. One of my wife's friends in back in Sweden took an alternate route to work to avoid traffic an got into a car accident. She ended up not getting compensated because " if she had taken her normal rout to work she may not have had the accident". The people in this country have no idea whats in store for them under Obama care. This is just one more piece of the framework that will seem benign until it's to late.
I wonder if there's a code for "shot by thugs with badges in a mistaken "SWAT" raid?"
Or "cancer caused by tsa nekkid-pitcher machines?"
Oooh! What about "threw out his back trying to carry the new "code" list?"
Sounds like the Vogons have taken over our government.
Nanny-state big Gubbment uber control.
B Woodman
III-per
This link was on the web page that had the beer can wifi amplifier.
http://dsc.discovery.com/adventure/how-to-surf-with-flair.html
Flaming surfboard.
"jumping through a flaming hope". I hoop that was just a Freudian slip of the finger ;-)
The CFR, the Code of Federal Regulations, occupies more than 40 feet of shelf space in its printed version. Obviously the folks who write ICD-10 are trying to wrest the 'title' away from Congress.
wv: ampul (could have been derived from 'ampule' or a misspelling of 'ample').
Post a Comment