| Medical billing is hard enough with it having to be | | | | look up the DX codes by the name of the illness. |
| cryptic besides. Unfortunately, there is nothing | | | | The reasons are obvious. Who wants to |
| more cryptic than DX, or diagnosis code tables | | | | memorize all those codes, though some people |
| when it comes to DME billing. In this installment, | | | | actually do just that. Boggles the mind. |
| we're going to try to make some sense of DX | | | | In your DME software, there will be a box on |
| tables and give you some basic information that | | | | your line item where you can enter what is called |
| you'll need to know in order to understand how to | | | | a pointer to your DX code. The DX code itself is |
| use them when submitting a bill using your DME | | | | stored in the patient's history file. This file contains |
| software. | | | | all the information about the patient including what |
| DX tables, or diagnosis code tables, are tables of | | | | is clinically wrong with the patient. You can have |
| data that pertains to a diagnosis of a patient's | | | | as many as four diagnosis codes for a patient in |
| illness. This has nothing to do with the type of | | | | most software and in some cases can have as |
| equipment they are getting or their insurance or | | | | many as eight. If you think it's not possible for a |
| anything else. It is simply a designation of what it | | | | patient to have that many problems, it is. A |
| is that the patient is suffering from. Now, this | | | | typical cancer patient in advanced stages can |
| might sound pretty basic, but the problem is that | | | | have a cancer DX code, one for poor respiration, |
| there are more diagnosis codes than New York | | | | if the cancer is of the lungs and a number of |
| City has people. As a matter of fact, diagnosis | | | | other ailments. |
| code tables are so massive that updating them | | | | When the actual bill is sent, the software |
| regularly is a big business in the medical billing | | | | cross-references the DX pointer to the actual DX |
| industry. But that's a topic for another article. | | | | code in the patient's file and transmits the code to |
| The table is actually very small. It contains just | | | | the carrier, NOT the pointer. It is important that |
| two items. The first is the actual code itself. The | | | | you understand this. Many billers who do not |
| second item is the description that goes with the | | | | understand this try to take out the pointer from |
| code. These can be listed in the table in one of | | | | the line item and manually enter in the code. This |
| two ways depending on how your software | | | | will result in nothing being sent to the carrier. |
| works. The codes can either be listed in | | | | DX tables usually work by themselves as part of |
| alphanumeric order by the actual code number or | | | | the software functions. So if you simply just |
| they can be listed in alphabetical order by the | | | | leave well enough alone, you should have no |
| name of the disease or condition. Some software | | | | problems getting your claims through to the |
| allows you to index your table either way. Why? | | | | insurance carrier and paid. |
| Because some medical billing personnel prefer to | | | | |