Fracture Care: Take Advantage Of 'manipulation' Opportunity
When your podiatrist carries out fracture care
, see to it that you take advantage of manipulation opportunity or you could be missing out on your payments without the proper manipulation knowledge.
Say for instance the podiatrist carries out closed treatment on a fractured fibula: if she uses manipulation, the service will fetch you about $119 more than a non manipulation encounter. But then you should think about several factors before you decide a manipulation warrants the treatment. Equip yourself with these three tips and get started:
Know what you are dealing with
You cannot support your claim if you have no idea about what manipulation is. It involves reduction or attempted reduction of the fracture or dislocation.
Podiatrists would normally carry out a 'closed' manipulation, which occurs when the physician is repositioning or relocating a displaced closed fracture back to the correct anatomical position without surgically opening it. Nonetheless, there is such a thing as "open" manipulation.
Important words give away manipulation procedure
If you depend on physician's notes to give evidence of manipulation, you have a chance of being misled.
Here's why: The word 'manipulation' does not make its way into physician encounter notes regularly.
Typically, what you should look for is the term 'closed reduction', which is used for non-operative treatment of fractures that are treated without surgery. Other terms that might help identify a manipulation procedure include 'reduce', 'align' and 'reset'.
Spot manipulation evidence
Only when you learn to read your physician's notes between the lines will you be able to tell a manipulative treatment from a non-manipulative one.
To get the proper manipulation knowledge and for other medical coding updates concerning your specialty, turn to a medical coding guide like Supercoder.