Procedure Coding Handbook for Psychiatrists

Procedure Coding Handbook for Psychiatrists is designed to level the playing field for practitioners and payers by enhancing the technical knowledge of practitioners about CPT coding and documentation. Payers have highly paid staff analyzing every code submission, which makes this text vital to give practitioners a similar understanding of the structure and function of Current Procedural Terminology, or CPT. Since payers often use miscoding on medical records as a reason to deny payment, it becomes imperative that clinicians understand how to use psychiatric therapeutic procedure codes and evaluation and management codes to reduce denials of payment, or downcoding that results in lower reimbursement for the service provided. Now in its fourth edition, Procedure Coding Handbook for Psychiatrists is a necessary and valuable reference tool for anyone practicing or studying psychiatry, clinical psychology, psychiatric nursing, or clinical social work. This most current edition provides insights into how a legible, carefully constructed and documented medical record is essential to providing good patient care and successful collection activities. In addition, there are three new appendixes that cover service codes for Medicare, evaluation and management guidelines for psychiatry, and the most frequently missed items in evaluation and management documentation.