Melody Mulaik is a featured writer for ICE magazine’s billing and coding column. Melody is the president of Revenue Cycle Coding Strategies in Powder Springs, Georgia. The corporate office is located in Cedar Park, Texas. She has a masters of science in health systems and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Melody’s certifications include CRA, RCC, RCC-IR, CPC and COC. In addition to managing a consulting and publishing firm with clients in all 50 states, Melody is an active presenter and writer in the specialty area of radiology coding, billing and compliance. When she is not working, she is an extensive traveler, travelling to all 50 states, as well as quite a few countries.
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Order Up!
A good new year’s resolution is to ensure that all your current processes are compliant and reviewing orders is a great place to start.
Coding Certifications
There is always a lot of discussion in the health care industry about the need for “certified” coders and the potential benefits to health care entities that employ individuals who are credentialed in various aspects of coding, billing and compliance.
E/M Opportunities?
One of the big items of discussion this year are the upcoming changes to Evaluation & Management (E/M) coding documentation and reimbursement. All radiology practices should be evaluating their practices’ patterns to determine if the new changes could yield new opportunities to bill for outpatient patient visits.
AUC Pivot
By Melody Mulaik The testing period for Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) implementation is almost over – well not quite. While there was no information in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Proposed Rule released...
PET/CT or PET and CT?
By Melody Mulaik Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine study that creates cross-sectional tomographic (3D) images of the metabolic activity in the patient’s tissues. The scan is performed after intravenous injection of a radiopharmaceutical. The...
