Karla VonEschen, MS, CPC, CPMA

If you work with risk adjustment coding, chances are you’ve seen some recent news from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) announcing findings for audits performed. OIG audits aren’t new, […]

It feels like the medical coding world is still getting used to many aspects of ICD-10-CM, so the idea that ICD-11 is just around the corner seems wild. However, the […]

For the past year, I’ve been immersed in the world of hierarchical condition category (HCC) coding. It’s been a great opportunity to dig deeper into everything related to risk adjustment […]

My dad has always had a fascination with gadgets. Over the past 20 years, he has loved getting smart devices and has gone through multiple smartphones, tablets and smartwatches. Of […]

The transition to ICD-11 is coming, and 3M HIS is here to help. We’ll debrief the major updates for you and provide an analysis of how the proposed changes could […]

The transition to ICD-11 is coming and 3M HIS is here to help. We’ll debrief the major updates for you and provide an analysis on how the proposed changes could […]

The transition to ICD-11 is coming and 3M HIS is here to help. We’ll debrief the major updates for you and provide an analysis on how the proposed changes could […]

It’s difficult these days to do anything in health care without hearing about securing protected health information (PHI) or reading about a security breach. During a recent office visit, I […]

Have you ever heard someone say, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?” It was Benjamin Franklin who coined this phrase in 1736 to remind the citizens […]

It’s hard to believe we are already four months into 2021. Spring is here, which means spring cleaning, yard work, planting flowers and second-quarter updates from the American Medical Association […]

New year, new month, new changes to documentation and coding for outpatient office visit codes 99202-99205 and 99211-99215. If it feels like you have been inundated with information and updates […]

So far in our E/M blog series, we have covered the first and second element of medical decision making (MDM). Today we will cover changes to the third and final […]

Each year around mid-September, I can see and feel the changes happening.  The air gets cooler, the leaves begin to turn beautiful colors, and ICD-10-CM diagnosis changes become effective. It […]

Just when you started to get comfortable with the 2020 ICD-10-CM changes, CMS has published their list of proposed diagnosis code updates for October. Is it really that time of […]

At this point in the fight to prevent the spread of COVID-19, most states have encouraged people to stay home and, in some cases, mandated sheltering in place. It’s understandable […]

Back in February, I wrote a blog about telemedicine, precisely about the benefits and some coding specifics. At that time, I had no idea COVID-19 would become so prevalent and […]

At this point in my life, many individuals I know have been touched by cancer in one way or another. Since March is colorectal cancer month, this seemed like an […]

Happy New Year and welcome to 2020! A new year brings new opportunities to start fresh, create new goals and, for medical coders, it means an abundance of new CPT […]

I live in the Midwest, and every year around this time I can feel the winter blues coming on. It’s been really cold since November and we’ve had plenty of […]

Vaping has become a very hot topic recently, due to the rapid increase of patients showing up at physicians’ offices and ERs with lung injuries.  The Centers for Disease Control […]

I find surgical coding to be challenging, but in a good way. I love a good challenge when it’s related to technology, coding or figuring out exactly what procedures a […]

Can you feel change in the air? Not only is fall just around the corner, but so is the CMS change to E/M documentation and payment. By now, most of […]

After attending an AAPC presentation last year, I published a blog about HCC coding. Since then, I have continued to dive into the world of HCCs. To follow up on […]

Spring means different things depending on what part of the country you live in. For me, spring means melting snow, flowers and spring cleaning. This also seems like a good […]

Welcome 2019! For me, this time of year means mostly freezing temperatures and snow, but I have Scandinavian blood and remind myself it’s the life I choose. I live in […]

Is it really August 2018? For many of us, this time of year means planning one final summer vacation, getting kids ready for a new school year, or thinking about […]

A hot topic in health care today is Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCCs). At the last local AAPC chapter meeting I attended, we had a guest speaker who discussed HCCs in […]

Ah, summer!  I live in Minnesota and have waited through an extended winter for the day when I could bring out my shorts and flip-flops. When we think of summer, […]

After my previous blog “Myocardial infarction coding is good for the heart,” one of our readers had a good question: When is a myocardial infarction considered old? I wanted to […]

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I find reading documentation for Myocardial Infarctions (MI) and coding from Chapter 9 in the ICD-10 codebook to be stressful and sometimes anxiety […]

We all know change in the healthcare field is a necessity for growth and improvement, but is change always a good thing? I’m constantly amazed at how far we’ve come […]