Maintenance Care Service Codes Service codes (CPT/HCPCS) tell a third party what you’re doing with the patient.  As with all coding, even maintenance care must be properly coded to clearly communicate in the patient record, within your software, and for any authorized third-party that may have access to this data. See the guidelines below for…

Because there is a distinct line between medically necessary and clinically appropriate care, reporting each must be managed with precision. It is in the description of the service that a third-party can best explain the intent of the treatment. Maintenance care is the patient’s financial responsibility 99.5% of the time, and to classify it properly…

Procedure Explanation HCPCS Codes HCPCS (Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System) is a coding system used to describe certain items and services provided by healthcare establishments. Until 1996, HCPCS codes were optional when reporting to Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurance carriers. The introduction of HIPAA resulted in the mandatory use of HCPCS codes when billing Medicare,…

Divisions Within Health Care Procedural Coding System (HCPCS) Most HCPCS manuals have an alphabetized index to help you find codes more easily. Your manual may have tabs that categorize codes into sections. Coders will find the following sections in the HCPCS Manual: Code Description A Transportation, medical and surgical supplies, miscellaneous and experimental B Enteral…

The Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) Basics HCPCS is an acronym for Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (pronounced Hick-Picks). HCPCS has its own coding guidelines and works hand in hand with CPT (Current Procedural Terminology). Already confused? Here is a quick recap of coding and how it tells the patient’s story: CPT is a…

Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) is the overall procedural coding system we use in our profession. However, most don’t know that the Level 1 codes are the CPT codes (Current Procedural Terminology). The Level 2 codes, or what we call HCPCS (“hick-picks”) are those alphanumeric codes and modifiers that must be part of your…