Register for live ACS surgical coding courses on general surgery, E/M coding

General surgery coding course

The ACS is offering a live surgical procedure coding course that covers everything important in general surgery coding, packed into an intensive six-and-one-half hours. The agenda covers all you need to know to code and document accurately and efficiently. The course provides in-depth and interesting instruction on coding for endoscopy, colorectal, breast, hernia, appendix, gallbladder, liver, intra-abdominal tumor, pancreatic, and endocrine procedures. The course also will cover ways to improve notes and the use of surgical payment modifiers, leaving attendees armed with ideas and techniques for setting up systems that reduce denials and increase successful appeals.

E/M coding course

Starting January 1, 2021, two sets of guidelines came into play for E/M coding—one for new and established office/outpatient visits, and one for all other E/M encounters. To help clarify the guidelines, the ACS is offering live E/M coding courses. One of the half-day E/M courses will focus on what determines code selection, including updated rules for using time and significant changes in the table for risk related to the decision for surgery. The second half-day course will continue the discussion of these critical updates to Medicare, but expand on telehealth coding and cover coding for office-based procedures that general surgeons perform, such as biopsies, skin excisions, debridement, and more.

Registration information

These coding courses will span two days and three courses—two half-day sessions focused on E/M and office procedure coding and one full-day session focused on surgical coding. The next scheduled course is September 24–25 in Dallas, TX. Registration information can be found online. For more information about the 2021 ACS coding courses, visit the ACS website or e-mail practicemanagement@facs.org.