flynn043

This December, coders across the country got the ultimate Christmas present: a bill passed the House and Senate without the addition of language that would further delay ICD-10 implementation.  As we breathe a sigh of relief and get ready for a worry-free Christmas (at least as far as coding is concerned), we aren't fully exhaling until the end of March when the SGR bill comes up again for a vote. But how many people are aware that there is another type of legislation at work that could cut down on the number of RAC denials we get?  Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn't it?  While the legislation is real, it's in very draft form right now.  Unfortunately, from where I sit, it also seems to be flying very low under the radar among my peers and I think it deserves some attention. First of all, if you are not yet familiar with RACs, those are the Recovery Audit Contractors hired by Medicare to recoup improper payments to hospitals and physicians and return that mon...

There is a super cute little toy shop in Coeur d'Alene, ID called Shenanigan's Toy Emporium  that sells vintage toys and other unique items.  When traveling there on business, we usually make a stop in to shop from their wall of amazing salt water taffy and check out their selection of toys that don't come with a power button.  You know, the kind of toys we had prior to the Atari and Game Boy era! Shenanigan's also has a great display of giant microbes - small plush renderings of everything from the common cold to diarrhea.  I am still marveling at how they could create a plush toy out of liquid stool!  I'm sure it's just the geeky coder in me (and my colleagues), but we decided to buy a few and put them out during our training sessions along with our baskets of Play Dough, pipe cleaners, and candy (we like to have FUN in our training sessions!).  Needless to say, they were a big hit with our clients and we noticed on one of the tags that there was a websit...

I've been pretty quiet lately around the blogosphere and some may even think I've disappeared.  And for about a year, up until about October, I really had disappeared a bit to plan and live through my wedding.  After a couple months of an identity crisis, I'll announce here that Coder Coach Kristi Stanton has disappeared and the new Coder Coach is now Kristi Pollard .  The new last name will take a couple of decades to get used to, but I am hopeful that if I'm quoted in the future, it won't be as the first actress to play Buffy the Vampire Slayer. True story. For the last couple of months I've been waiting for inspiration to strike so I could once again become passionate about the blog.  I've been observing.  Don't get me wrong, with all the legislation and talk about more ICD-10 delays, I've also been writing my congressmen, participating in Twitter rallies (follow me at @codercoach), and making posts on Facebook, but I've spent more time just w...