Medical Billing and Coding with the "Billing Boys"
episode
GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast
47 min
3 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 9 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the purpose of this episode and who are the Billing Boys?
Welcome to the Jerry Pal podcast. This is Eric Wadera. This is Alex Smith. And Alex, who do we have with us today?
We are delighted to welcome back Chris Jones, who's a geriatrician and palliative care doc, and get this for today's podcast: a certified professional coder. Chris is clinical vice chief for outpatient palliative care at Duke. Chris, welcome back to the JerryPal podcast. Thank you. And we're delighted to welcome Phil Rogers, who's a palliative care doctor and family medicine doctor, and is the George A. Dean, professor and chair of family medicine at MyAl. Alma Matter, the University of Michigan Go Blue. Phil, welcome to Jerry Powell. Happy to be here. Thanks for having us.
And me. Oh
yeah.
That's terrible. It's like, wait. That was like a blizzard. Blooper. And
we're delighted to welcome back Lynn Flint, who's a frequent guest and host on this podcast today, serving as a guest host. And Lynn Flint is a palliative care doctor from the office next door. Lynn, welcome back. Thank you very much.
So we're gonna be talking about medical billing and coding, the subject everybody wants to listen to on a podcast. But we're I've actually seen Chris and Phil talk about this. They make this actually really exciting and We'll talk about why it's important for everybody to know at least some components of billing and coding. Before we get into that topic, who has the song request for Alex? I think that's me today. Chris, what is this song request?
We we really thought through what would be a valuable song request around billing, and it it has to be if I had a million dollars.
Great choice. Here's a little bit.
If I had a million dollars, if I had a million dollars, well I'd buy you a fur coat, but not a real fur coat, that's cruel. If I had a million dollars, if I had a million dollars, why'd buy you an exotic pet? Yep, like a llama. Or an emu, if I had a million dollars, if I had a million dollars, well I'd buy you John Merrick's remains, all them crazy elephant bones, and if I had a million dollars, I'd buy a If I had a million dollars, we wouldn't have to walk to the store. If I had a million dollars, we'd take a limousine, cause it costs more. If I had a million dollars. I be rich.
Llama or Lama? I had the same question.
I don't know.
We're just hoping you can get a chaplain or a social worker with that million dollars. Exactly right.
Maybe massage therapists, you don't have to have a donor fund.
Well, let's talk about that. Cause you know what? We're talking about billing and coding and the importance of billing coding when we think about palliative care teams. Damn it, Phil, like I am a doctor. I need to be doctoring. I am not a I'm not a slave to the C-suite. Uh do I really have to and does my team need to really know about billing and coding?
That's an excellent question. And and you know, that there's a few things, having done this a while, that we find are important to make sure we say. And one of them is actually a little line of Chris's that that I'm gonna share with you, which which is that palliative medicine pays for palliative care. And what I mean by that is that The primary people who are going to be coding on your team are the physicians and the advanced practice professionals, right? Your your your MPs your PAs, your docs. Um residents can bill under appropriate supervision, so can fellows. With few exceptions, the other extremely valuable members of your interprofessional team, your social worker, your nurse, your spiritual care provider.
Um, in some cases, your psychologist, if you're if you're so lucky, most of the time cannot bill in a lot of the settings where we work. So ensuring that you optimize revenue for your services enables you to have the resources to post. support your interprofessional team.
Did I get that right, Chris? Yeah, well when we talk about this with with folks around the country, what I'll often encourage cause you have to you have to get people you have to hook 'em when you're trying to teach this stuff. And why does it matter? It matters because if you can get a bit more revenue, you can turn that into a social worker, you can turn that into a chaplain.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the purpose of this episode and who are the Billing Boys?
0:01–6:13
2
Why is accurate billing essential for supporting the inter‑professional palliative‑care team?
6:13–12:06
3
How do ICD‑10 diagnoses and CPT codes work together to capture a visit’s complexity?
12:06–17:51
4
When should clinicians use time‑based billing versus complexity‑based billing?
17:51–23:46
5
What documentation language is needed to bill Advanced Care Planning (ACP) codes correctly?
23:46–29:31
6
How does billing differ between inpatient and outpatient palliative‑care settings?
29:31–36:01
7
Where can listeners find resources and training to improve their coding skills?
36:01–41:49
8
What final advice do Chris and Phil give for clinicians to know their worth and bill confidently?
41:49–47:36
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast
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