tci ED Coding & Reimbursement Alert - 1999 Issue 11

Educate Physicians to Avoid Downcoding Level 5 Services to 99284 and Losing Reimbursement

In the emergency department, complex illnesses and serious, sometimes life-threatening, injuries are so common that many ED physicians do not appreciate the value of the services they provide and therefore may be losing out financially. Educating doctors for good documentation is key to alleviating the problem.Although most physicians and coders worry about upcoding and the scrutiny and audits this may trigger, emergency specialists should be more concerned with possibly downcoding their charts, says Jack Turner, MD, FACEP, medical director of documentation and coding compliance for Team Health Inc., a nationwide emergency physician staffing group with affiliates in several...

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