E/M Coding

[LerRN95]

I am an ER Nurse Manager and I was wondering if any other nurses coded their own charts? My hospital have my nurses doing this, as if they had the time. I have tried to get them to hire a coder just for the ER, but that just went out the window.

Also there seems to be certain procedure that we can charge for doing along with the E/M level. If anyone has any information of what these "other charges" are or where I can get information, please let me know.

Thanks,

[ernurse728, LPN]

In our facility we have 2 patient care techs and 3 rn's that are part time coders. Part of the time they are scheduled in the ER and others they are here for coding purposes only. It works very well for us.

[petiteflower]

I am from a very small facililty in which I am the ER coordinator. We are in the process of turning the coding over to me because we are losing money each visit because charges are being missed. I don't know where to find them yet, but I know that some charges can have a procedural charge that goes along with the ER visit. I will forward you the information when I get it. Good Luck.

[LerRN95]

Thanks! I would appreciate ANY help I can get.

[dm2]

We see over 50,000 pts a year average. We have 2 people trained to do the coding. They work mostly nights occassionally days, flexible schedule as long as it gets done EACH day. We have 3 backup people training now in case of a "call-in" by the daily coder. So far all are experienced ER RN's. The 2 FT coders had medical conditions that disabled them from bedside care. Not only do they do the coding, they review radiology reports, culture & sensitivities, oversee call-backs by doing or delegating to a day charge person. They also audit our charts for completeness and give us the opportunity to complete the documentation when needed, or the opportunity to improve for future charting! It has greatly improved our revenue and our compliance with regulations. We do have a very strong nurse manager and fantastic support form administration........ a good working situation overall. Of course it is too busy, over flowing with holding admitted pts, even filling the hallways too often! And a few nurse bullies in need of re-training their behaviors! Got to have something to work on, eh?

[dm2]

oh, we did try to start by having each nurse code their own charts daily.... way too many mistakes! Well worth the cost to have people specifically trained to do it! We have increased our billing accuracy and all honest charges for service performed.

[renerian, BSN, RN]

Very important to know what your doing to capture all the monies you are due.

renerian