Recently I was at a community meeting and a representative from the local Accountable Care Organization (ACO) spoke about the issue of some Providers reporting four diagnosis codes per visit. At first, I didn’t think anything of it but then it dawned on me. It is all about money.
Without going into actuaries, risks and costs formulas the point is simple, healthier individuals use less resources. This means that if you simply use a few codes you are telling Payors (insurance companies and Medicare) that your patients are healthier than others that use multiple codes. As a result, these Payors…