You can code acute conditions, such as acute gastrointestinal (GI) bleeds, in home health, but first you must verify the patient still has the condition. 

Home health coding professionals earned slightly more this year than they did in 2010, but many also report being stretched by an increased workload as agencies try to do more with less. The average coder’s salary for 2011 was $51,781, up 2.93% from $50,307 in 2010, according to 327 respondents to Diagnosis Coding Pro’s 2012 Home Health Coding Professionals’ Salary Survey. 

Your agency has an additional year to prepare for the monumental shift to ICD-10. HHS released a proposed rule April 9 that would delay implementation of the ICD-10 code set until Oct. 1, 2014. 

Expect stepped-up scrutiny of your claims by payment and fraud contractors following a new report by the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) that found one-in-five home health claims are coded inappropriately. 

Question: What is the correct code for dementia following CVA? And if the medical documentation makes the connection between the stroke and vascular dementia, what is the correct coding sequence? 

There are two crucial pieces of information every coder needs to accurately code a hospice referral: a primary diagnosis that reflects the patient’s terminal prognosis, and an up-to-date patient history that reflects the co-morbidities impacting the primary diagnosis. 

5010 enforcement delayed again: Providers have until June 30 before enforcement of the new 5010 claim submission standard begins, CMS announced March 15. As a result, providers who submit claims in the old 4010 format through June 30 will not be penalized. 

Breakdown of home health coding professionals' salaries by experience, education, agency size, contract vs. in-house, and coding team size. 

It appears providers will have no new diagnosis code changes to contend with next year. CMS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are officially proposing no changes to the ICD-9-CM or ICD-10-CM code sets for 2013.

CMS today released a proposed rule that would delay implementation of the ICD-10 code set until Oct. 1, 2014.

That puts the new compliance date exactly one year from the previous date.