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Hello, I am new to Pain Coding. How would this scenario be coded, the physician revised an implanted spinal neruostimulator receiver and added (2)more leads with a connector? Thank you for your help,

Ladies & Gentlemen: We take great pride at www.askleslie.net with sharing accurate information and offering this information for free. We are adjusting to a new format and it has it's challenges (actually the users do, ME especially) I shared this article that I received and although I attributed it to the appropriate person and publication, I failed to preview in haste. I did not realize that acknowledgement was NOT there. We want to thank Dr. Dreama Sloan-Kelly, MD, CCS from MedicalCodingShop.com for her newsletter that I read faithfully!

Hey All, Did you know that the American Medical Association (AMA) has created a National Health Insurer Report Card, with the first results release last year, 2008? For the start of this program the AMA assessed the following payers: • Medicare • United Healthcare • Aetna • Anthem BCBS • Cigna • Coventry • HealthNet • Humana

Aetna Inc., the third-largest U.S. health insurer, has settled an investigation of reimbursement rates for out-of-network doctors, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. The settlement calls for Aetna to pay $20 million to a qualified nonprofit group that will establish a new database to help determine fair out-of-network reimbursement rates for U.S. consumers, according to the statement. See the rest of the story here: http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzdeal166000541jan16,0,7452529.story

Memorial Hermann Healthcare System settled a lawsuit Monday in which Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott alleged the nonprofit institution organized an insurer boycott to keep a competing hospital from succeeding. Memorial Hermann, the largest health care provider in the Houston area, agreed to pay the state $700,000 toward the cost of the antitrust investigation and agreed to not take the same type of anti-competitive actions alleged in the lawsuit for five years. See the rest of the story here: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6230810.html

UnitedHealthcare Physician Designation Program Reminder: Review Your Physician Designation Data

By Sheri Porter 1/23/2009 A key deadline is rapidly approaching for some physicians who hold contracts with UnitedHealthcare, or UHC. Jan. 27 is the cutoff for requests that UHC re-examine the accuracy of certain physician performance data the insurer has gathered before going public with it in early March.