Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #44
Tony’s Pick
The tiny world of mastodon/fediverse clients on iOS is really quite rich. The official Mastodon app is good, Ivory from Tapbots is a clear favorite in my corner of the fediverse, and there are many many others to check out. By far my favorite is IceCubes. I prefer the look and feel, it’s nicely customizable without being a too focused on configuration, and it’s open source!
Kyle’s Pick
I injured my hip in a late-night soccer game a couple of weeks ago and had to go to the ER. I received my bill this week for $1400. My visit was coded as 99283, which is a level 3 complexity visit on a 1-5 scale. My visit consisted of a brief conversation with the on-call physician, a 3-view X-ray, and 3 ibuprofen. (The good news - the ibuprofen were only $4, which is expensive but not egregious.)
While researching that CPT code, I stumbled on this article from 2017 about increasing facility fees and complexity code inflation in emergency rooms. I’m not sure if I would dispute that my visit deserves a 3 given the fact that it involved an X-ray, which requires coordination with other departments. But it’s good to know that CPT code inflation is something to watch out for.
This might also be a good time to point out that the AMA has a copyright on CPT codes, anyone who wants to bill for medical procedures has to pay a license fee to use them, and their use is federally mandated. Ladies and gentlemen, the US healthcare system!
