Presentation Description: 80 minutes for CODERS, group administrators or any hospital employees that need training in coding for critical care, respiratory, inpatient visits and telehealth coding, the full training is available under “Services Outside the OR: Critical Care, Respiratory Therapy and Telehealth- 90 Minute Training”.

For our pain management groups, there is information regarding the telehealth services at the end of the coder presentation that you may want to review, just fast forward thru the parts that do not apply to your group. There are many presentations now being given on telehealth services from other independent consultants and free training from the CMS carriers that does have all the pertinent information you will need. We did not feel currently re-presenting that information was necessary. If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to us via e-mail.

Anesthesia administrators, there are certain things that are worth mentioning to check on during this crisis before you deploy resources or lay off individuals. Work with your healthcare system to negotiate an hourly rate for back up personnel that you can offer to help with workflow shortages. Check with your insurance broker to see if your basic insurance policy has business interruption insurance and what is necessary for proof to file claims for lost revenue under the pandemic. Review and understand telehealth visits and their constraints thru the pandemic. Once these are lifted, you will have to retrain to be able to continue using telehealth in your practice.

For our pain management friends, be sure and check with state DEA regulators to see if providing narcotic visits during the crisis for controlled substances is allowed. One additional thought is to verify that malpractice coverage will cover different areas of practice for physicians and CRNAs doing things outside of anesthesia services.

Finally, if you do not have coders that are confident in coding these services or actually have to have time off due the COVID-19, ACE has coding staff that are available to help. We have worked remotely in a secure environment for years and we are ready to help. Please e-mail me if we can be of assistance in any way. Our thoughts are with all of you. Stay safe.

Devona
devonas@aceauditors.com