Why Accuracy Matters in Medical Coding

Coding inaccuracies lead to claim delays and denials, and compromised patient care. Some serious consequences include legal actions, lawsuits, penalties, hefty fines, and even imprisonment.

Let’s have a look at what medical coding is and why accuracy in it is important to the upkeep of hospitals and other medical offices.

What is Medical Coding?

Medical coding is a process of transforming important information related to the collection of payment from insurance providers, including healthcare diagnosis, procedures, treatments, medical services, medications, and equipment, into numeric or alphanumeric codes.

This information is taken from different sources like the transcription of practitioner’s notes, medical record documentation, electronic records, laboratory, and radiologic results, urinalysis, pathology as well as radiologic assessments etc.

All the standardized codes need to accurately correspond to each aspect of medical billing for accurate claim reimbursement.

Why Must Medical Coding Be Accurate?

Here are some of the important reasons why medical coding is important to be optimally accurate and compliant with current laws, regulations, and medical codes.

Ensures Accurate Reimbursement

Since healthcare providers are paid by insurance carriers for their services on the basis of standardized codes assigned to a patient’s diagnoses, treatment, and equipment, the claims should be coded with the highest degree of accuracy to accelerate the reimbursement process.

Accuracy in medical coding is immensely important to ensure that the claims are submitted accurately and practices are reimbursed timely and accurately.

Error-free and claims ensure quick reimbursement and reduce the likelihood of accounts receivable.

Coding inaccuracies can lead to erratic medical billing, which may not cause claim delays and denial, which, needless to mention, may result in delayed payments coming into your practice and adversely affect its financial health.

Ensures Safety of Patient’s Health

Accurate coding helps to prove the necessity of the treatment rendered to a patient. It helps the insurance providers determine what services was provided to a patient and what resources were used in the patient care.

The patient himself or the patient’s family may require access to this information at any time. Therefore, it is immensely important that it is absolutely accurate.

Inaccurate patient information can not only affect the quality and accuracy of current and future patient care but also prove detrimental to the health of the healthcare facility.

Helps Practices Forecast the Future

Compliance with coding protocols not only helps the medical practices ensure that the billing to the patients and insurance providers is accurate and but also helps them forecast the future.

Accurate billing helps the healthcare providers to analyze correct information on revenue, costs, claim denials, and enable them to and prepare themselves for any financial challenges in the future.

Proper billing also helps practices make an informed decision about other aspects of their business like staff recruitment and patient outreach.

Final Words:

No matter what the size and specialty of medical practice, coding is important on different levels to receive on-time payment and create a record of patient care history. Without accurate coding, the information could be extremely difficult to compile.

Coding can help healthcare providers track patient information in a simplified way.

It is important to make sure that each piece of your claim is optimally accurate for a smooth and seamless reimbursement.

In the nutshell, the success of a healthcare practice depends largely on accurate and timely coding and billing processes.

How to Achieve High Coding Accuracy at Your Practice?

Today’s medical coding and documentation have become more complex than ever and medical practices are in great need of handing over their medical billing to qualified coders who have knowledge and expertise to expertly handle coding procedures and understand various regulations of both public and private medical insurance plan policies.

To streamline their billing processes and catch up the sheer volume of coding required, many healthcare providers are outsourcing their medical billing and coding to third parties to achieve greater accuracy and compliance in their processes.

Outsourcing billing processes to a medical coding service also helps providers avoid the risks of non-compliance with billing and coding rules and regulations and therefore prevent costly consequences.

A medical coding services provider helps the healthcare providers improve their efficiency and compliance, by increasing their revenue, accelerating claim reimbursement and decreasing the number of denied claims, allowing the practitioners and their team to focus on the core aspects of patient care.

Make sure that the healthcare provider you choose to provide you with a gamut of coding services with a focused approach, customized to specialty and subspecialty and are tailored to optimize your revenue cycle.

If you already have an in-house billing team in your practice, you will need to make sure that it keeps up with evolving laws, regulations, and code to ensure optimum accuracy and compliance in your medical processes.

USA Medical Coding Experts

Precision7 Inc. is full-service medical billing and coding company helping practices across the United States for more than a decade. We specialize in all aspects of revenue cycle management, including claim follow-up, claim denial resolution, payment posting, appeal submission, bill adjustments, and collection management.

We have a team of AAPC-certified medical coders who have been extensively trained to code for ICD-10, CPT, HCPCS, and HEDIS. We ensure that our staff stay on top of the constantly changing regulatory environment and implement necessary changes on time to maintain compliance with current medical rules.

We assure highly-accurate and timely medical coding solutions to maximize your efficiency and accuracy and reduce denials and rejected claims.

Working with a professional billing company like us gives you peace of mind and reassurance that your medical coding is done to the highest quality standards and will boost your cash flow and revenue stream.

What CBD Strain is Best for Anxiety?

No one enjoys those racing thoughts or racing heart. But the dynamics of our modern world predispose many of us to such an existence. Anxiety can be a mild nuisance for some of us, while for others it can be truly crippling.

Where pharmaceutical medications can help relieve anxiety levels, they often come with a variety of side effects and can even become addictive in some instances. CBD works in a different way than modern pharmaceuticals and, for the most part, is relatively free from harmful side effects.

The Research on CBD and Anxiety
There are several clinical studies involving the use of CBD to treat anxiety. Science has widely come to accept that there are indeed benefits and that they come at a relatively low cost in terms of side effects and addictive potential.

One well-respected study was carried out on Japanese schoolchildren exhibiting symptoms of social anxiety. After administering the children either 300 mg of CBD oil or a placebo every day for four weeks, researchers found subjects reported that their anxiety had declined to levels comparable to those associated with treatment with pharmaceuticals.

Another study carried out at a mental health clinic found that outpatients given 25 mg of CBD on a daily basis reported profound decreases in anxiety levels. After two months of treatment, 78 percent of those patients reported improvements with using CBD in addition to their regular treatment.

Can CBD Ever Increase Anxiety?
While most patients and the majority of studies report positive benefits from CBD in the treatment of anxiety, this is not always the case. A 2018 study found that CBD can sometimes worsen anxiety in certain cases. Interestingly, the study highlighted that patients who had a predisposition to paranoia often exacerbated their anxiety symptoms with CBD.

The Top 9 CBD Strains for Treating Anxiety
If you’d like to buy CBD flower online in Canada, and tone down those anxiety symptoms, then here are our top nine strains of high CBD strains.

1) Cannatonic
Cannatonic is a well-respected, high-CBD strain and is a reliable performer for many patients who suffer from anxiety. Cannatonic is a cross between G13 Haze and MK Ultra. CBD levels come in at 10 percent, and the strain has low THC levels of around five percent. Known for its mellow and uplifting effects, Cannatonic is also useful in treating other conditions like muscle spasms, migraines, and general pain in addition to anxiety. In addition to its potent medicinal benefits, it’s also pleasing to the palette with a sweet, earthy flavour accompanied by woody undertones.

2) Dance World
CBD levels in Dance World average11 percent, and this fragrant strain comes with hints of citrus and lavender with an herbal undertone. Many consumers find that Dance World successfully targets an anxious mind and can help lower stress due to the indica qualities of the Afghani genetics common to the strain.

3) Pennywise
With a 1:1 CBD to THC ratio, Pennywise has an average of 7.5 percent CBD. It’s a cross between Jack the Ripper and Harlequin and is extremely helpful to many patients using it to treat anxiety and stress. The balanced levels of THC and CBD help ensure that the psychoactive effects of the THC are kept in check with moderate levels of CBD, to help ensure a stable and relaxed vibe that doesn’t overwhelm or exacerbate symptoms.

4) ACDC
ACDC is one of the best-known CBD strains out there. THC levels are negligible, while CBD levels come in at 11 to 15 percent. It’s this high ratio of CBD to THC that makes ACDC extremely proficient at targeting conditions like anxiety. And what’s more, the absence of THC means that those who don’t respond favourably to it can avoid exacerbating any anxiety symptoms.

5) Stephen Hawking Kush
CBD levels come in at a bit over 10 percent with Stephen Hawking Kush. And with a 2:1 CBD to THC ratio, it means maximum medicinal benefits without aggravating symptoms with high quantities of THC. In addition to helping treat anxiety, Stephen Hawking Kush is also widely used in the medicinal community for suppressing nausea and treating depression.

6) CBD Mango Haze
CBD Mango Haze offers CBD levels of seven percent and THC levels of four percent. Known to provide relief for a variety of conditions, including anxiety, CBD Mango Haze is perhaps best known for inducing a relaxed and focussed mindset that often appeals to those who consume cannabis while at work or in other places where they must remain alert and unintoxicated. If you suffer from anxiety in the workplace and want to buy CBD flower online in Canada, this strain may be well worth checking out.

7) CBD Critical Mass
With CBD levels of 9.5 percent and THC content of 6.5 percent, CBD Critical Mass induces a relaxed and euphoric vibe in many patients suffering from crippling anxiety. And what’s more, with its sweet and earthy flavours and spicy herbal undertone, it’s pleasing to the palate.

8) Charlotte’s Web
Charlotte’s Web may be one of the most famous high-CBD strains around. The strain garnered much attention some years back when it reduced the number of epileptic seizures in a girl named Charlotte Figi, from 300 a week to one or two per month. And while many use it to control epileptic seizures, the high CBD content of 11 to 13 percent with negligible amounts of THC means that Charlotte’s Web is also extremely helpful at alleviating stress and anxiety in many consumers.

Looking To Buy CBD Flower Online in Canada
Some may claim that it’s purely snake oil, but the scientific and anecdotal evidence suggests that CBD can be extremely helpful in the treatment of anxiety. If you’re considering buying CBD flower online in Canada, there are a host of options available. While there are countless strains that all exhibit a range of effects, there are also CBD edibles, tinctures and vapes that can also function just as well and may even be preferable in certain instances.

The Benefits Of A Home Loan EMI Calculator In India

A home loan calculator in India helps you to get an approximate estimate for the EMI levied on a selected property. While this may seem obvious, there are quite a few benefits connected with this online tool. Among other things, it helps users to make informed decisions and gives them a better understanding of the market. Apart from calculating the EMI, this free online tool can also come in handy in other situations as well. Let’s take a look at some of these:

First timer benefit: As a first time house owner, you will have certain expectations when it comes to your home. It is difficult though to know the real estate market well enough to anticipate important decisions concerning your home and home loan. The type of property, location as well as the number of rooms will affect the cost of the same. Whether your dream home is a duplex in the city or an apartment in the suburbs, a good EMI calculator for home loan can help you to estimate the area of the house based on the EMI you can manage every month. With EMI calculations made in advance, it will be easy for you to know whether to hunt for a 1 BHK in SoBo or a 3 BHK in Noida. Most financial experts advise to opt for home loan EMI which is approximately 20 to 30 percent of your total income. Factoring this makes it easier to calculate the EMI and find the most suitable property.

Ease of access: Available as a free tool online, a home loan calculator is available around the clock. But what else can you do? Most calculators help you to check the rates of various properties for possible loan tenures and offer a standard home loan interest rate. There are other EMI calculators that will allow you to enter the interest rate that you are comfortable with. It is important to understand that several finance companies offer different rates. A borrower, who has a good track record of loan returns, can find that the interest rate is negotiable as well. Keeping this in mind, it makes sense to identify the right combination of interest rate and loan term while undertaking your calculations.

Insights: Some calculators will also help you to understand how to customize your loan to suit your financial needs. For example, it is understood that extending the loan term for a longer period of time will lower the EMIs. That, however, means that much of your payment will be used to pay off the interest rate, with relatively little going to the principal amount. A home loan EMI calculator will help you to get a better estimate on how much you will have to pay while enabling you to make informed decisions.

These online tools come with a few limitations, though. An EMI calculator may not be enough to understand the impact of the fixed and floating interest rates in India. It will also be unable to calculate the EMIs for customized repayment schemes. It is advisable, thus, to take these rough estimates as a basic guideline to help you to select the right property, loan term and EMI.