Prepare Now for 2008 ICD-9 Diagnosis Codes

Your Expert Presenter:
Jo Ann Steigerwald, RHIT, ACS-GI, ACS-OH Jo Ann is a coding veteran with 25+ years of experience as a consultant and trainer in medical coding, billing and documentation. As a consultant with Medical Business Specialists, Baraboo, Wis., Jo Ann provides onsite, custom training and consulting services on coding, documentation, fraud and abuse, compliance and medical records management. She previously worked for both state and regional medical associations developing and providing consulting on reimbursement, collections and records management. Jo Ann serves on the Advisory Board to the Board of Medical Specialty Coding, is technical advisor to the Coder’s Pink Sheets and is a frequent national speaker on a variety of coding/billing topics.
Who Should Attend
This conference benefits a wide variety of health care professionals. Billing and coding staff Physicians and non-physician practitioners Practice administrators & executives Front office staff Compliance officers Consultants There is no limit to the number of staff from your office who can participate. One registration fee lets your entire staff listen in via speakerphone! Save money — no travel expenses!

Don’t wait until the last minute to find out how the new 2008 ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes will affect your practice. The codes are available NOW. Get this first, comprehensive look at some truly useful new codes … and start preparing your providers right away for the detailed documentation you’ll need.

Case-in-point: You’ll have 54 distinct new codes to describe different types of lymphoma in various regions of the body. While that means your coding can be more specific to the patient’s condition, it also means you’ll need to train your physicians to document not only the type of lymphoma being treated, but also some very precise locations (such as “lymph nodes of axilla and upper limb”).

ICD-9 coding expert Jo Ann Steigerwald, Medical Business Specialists, Baraboo, Wis., will walk you step-by-step through the code changes, including:

Hearing loss. Two new codes let you code speech/language developmental delays due to hearing loss and acquired auditory processing disorders. But don’t miss the seven new codes in expanded code category 389.xx. Specific documentation is required to identify whether the hearing loss is conductive, neural, sensory or mixed … and whether it’s unilateral or bilateral.
Human herpesvirus. Eight new codes 058.xx describe infection, encephalitis and roseola infantum linked to human herpesvirus 6 or human herpesvirus 7. So simple documentation of “roseola” won’t do anymore. You’ll need to pick one of three codes 058.1x to specify whether or not this childhood disease is caused by human herpesvirus.
Swallowing function. Say goodbye to simple 787.2 (dysphagia). ICD-9-CM ushers in seven new 787.2x codes for various types of dysphagia. Make sure your providers know the appropriate “phases” to document.
Myotonic disorders. Take note of five new 359.2x codes for these muscle spasm disorders. Gone is the sole code 359.2 that lumps together all myotonic disorders – and that means you’ll need greater documentation specificity. Get your providers ready!
Avian flu. It’s a sign of the times: Check out new code 488 – Influenza due to identified avian influenza virus. (What exactly is “identified,” though?)

Sponsors:


CEUs:
Approved for 1.5 CEUs (ACS, SCP)	Approved for 1.5 CEUs
Approved for 3 CEUs	Approved for 1.5 CEUs

To find out about upcoming conferences and for a complete listing of audio CDs, please visit www.decisionhealth.com.

One registration fee lets your entire staff listen in! Save money - no travel expenses!