Coding Questions

In this article:

• Why we don't answer individual coding questions
• Tips for searching the site to find answers to your questions
• Q&A services and other resources

Can I ask a coding question?

CodingIntel does not provide individual answers to coding questions. From time to time, we may use questions that are submitted frequently as a basis for an article.

Why?

Sheer volume. There are more questions than there is time to answer them.

• Procedure coding. We don’t have the staff and or the expertise to read and code procedure notes. See below for options.
• Compliance issues. Some questions describe compliance situations that should be addressed by the compliance department or health care attorney, and not sent via email to someone outside the organization.
• Reimbursement issues. If only payers all followed coding rules! Unfortunately, some issues are specific to a payer’s policies and their own interpretation.
• What if questions: If you’re a coder, you’ve been in a meeting when someone says, “What if the NP and a PA walk into a bar,” no, sorry, What if both participate with a resident and an attending, and the PA….” or “What if, half the procedure is done on a Tuesday but the other half is done….” When I get a “what if” question, it’s never by itself. I am sorry, answering individual “what if” questions isn’t part of CodingIntel.

Search tips

If you haven't searched the site for the answer to your question, we encourage you to start with our table of contents. There you will find a curated list of the articles and resources available on the site. You can also enter a code or a key word in the search tool. We've included some helpful search tips below.

1. If your question is specific, try to be specific, for example, “lesion” will give you a more accurate search result than “surgery”.
2. But, if you are searching for general information for surgical coding, then, search “surgery”.
3. Search by CPT or HCPCS code

Is there additional coding help available?

If you are looking for a Q&A service, the AMA offers the CPT Network and Knowledge Base, an internet-based system that provides AMA members and subscribers the tools to quickly research a database of commonly asked CPT coding questions and clinical examples (vignettes).

If you are a physician or work for a physician, we suggest asking the physician to send the coding question to his/her specialty society.  Compliance questions should go the compliance department or medical director, and serious compliance concerns should be handled under attorney client privilege. There are also listservs available, and you could pose your question there. The AAPC has one, as does Part B News.

Does membership include a forum?

We don't have a forum at this time. Our live webinars do include a Q&A portion where participants can ask Betsy questions related to the webinar topic.