Best Practices

Technique matters when it comes to getting a sufficient amount of virus for a rapid test. Images By Tang Ming Tung/Digital Vision via Getty Images ~~~~~ As fall temperatures set in, cold and flu season gets into full swing and holiday travel picks up, people will undoubtedly have questions about COVID-19 testing. Is this the year people can finally return to large gatherings for traditional...

Every year, we’re curious to learn about the changes to ICD-10-CM codes that become effective on October 1st, and this year, there are many interesting additions. Of course, our company looks at codes primarily through the risk adjusted payment lens, so for a more complete summary of the changes in all code categories, we suggest you consult the CMS website directly. As an overview, 1,790 code...

Close to 4 million babies are born in the United States every year, and within their first 48 hours nearly all are pricked in the heel so their blood can be tested for dozens of life-threatening genetic and metabolic problems. The heel-stick test is considered such a crucial public health measure that states typically require it and parents aren’t asked for their permission before it’s done. But...

Evidence is vital in risk adjustment work, and not all evidence is the same, as we’ve blogged in the past. One area of growing concern is for conditions that may be permanent or which may improve and resolve. Let’s look at something like monoplegia or hemiplegia following a stroke. For some patients, weakness in part of the body responds to therapy and time, eventually resolving. Sadly, in some...

Thanks to the work of a whistleblower, the U.S. Department of Justice recently settled with an Indiana-based skilled nursing and long-term care services company for $5.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act. A former American Senior Communities (ASC) employee filed a whistleblower lawsuit in 2017 alleging that that ASC was charging Medicare directly for various...

This year, many vasectomy patients are young or single men concerned about unwanted pregnancy at a time when abortion care may not be as available as before. Thomas Barwick/Stone via Getty Images ~~~~~~~~~ About half a million men undergo a vasectomy in the United States in any given year. The percentage of men getting them had been dropping for the past two decades, but it looks like those...