New Credit Card Laws

[Lamplighter]

I realize this is thread-drift, but it actually is in the same vein of thought.

NY Times
ANDREW POLLACK
12/29/13

Roughed Up by an Orca? There’s a Code for That

Next fall, a transformation is coming to the arcane world of medical billing.

Overnight, virtually the entire health care system — Medicare, Medicaid,
private insurers, hospitals, doctors and various middlemen —
will switch to a new set of computerized codes used for determining
what ailments patients have and how much they and their insurers
should pay for a specific treatment.

The changes are unrelated to the Obama administration’s new health care law.

I.C.D.-10, with codes containing up to seven digits or letters,
will have about 68,000 for diagnoses and 87,000 for procedures.

While I.C.D.-9 had a single code for certain repairs to blood vessels in the head and neck,
I.C.D.-10 allows specification of the particular vein or artery and the particular procedure used.
Extra codes allow recording of whether a patient was visiting the doctor
for the first time or a subsequent time for a particular problem,
and whether broken arms and some other injuries occur on the left or right side of the body.

My daughter has been involved in this transition for the past year.
Her hospital has and entire office staff devoted to reviewing the ICD-10 codes entered by the MD's,
but then changing them to whatever codes are "appropriate" but will generate the highest billing.

Then there is this... and garbage in - garbage out is still true.