News

Having a Care Manager During Pregnancy Reduces Likelihood of Premature Birth for High-Risk Patients

Washington, DC ― Research shows that pregnant people on Medicaid are more likely to have worse pregnancy outcomes, including preterm birth, compared to those who have private insurance. When a baby is born too early — or prematurely — it puts the infant at greater risk of health... Continue Reading

High-Quality Diet in Pregnancy is Associated with a Lower Risk of Fetal Growth Restriction

Washington, DC ― Research has shown that an unhealthy diet during pregnancy can have long-term effects on a child’s health. Now, in a new study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting™, which is being held... Continue Reading

Severity of COVID-19 Does Not Differ According to Trimester

Washington, DC ― Research shows that pregnant people who contract COVID-19 are at increased risk of severe complications, including hospitalization, ventilation, and death, compared to pregnant people without COVID-19. However, little is known about how the timing of COVID-19 infection during... Continue Reading

Chewing Sugar-Free Gum Reduced Preterm Births

Washington, DC ― Each year, an estimated 15 million babies are born prematurely or preterm (defined as delivery before the 37th week of pregnancy), and this number is rising, according to the World Health Organization. Preterm babies are at greater risk of experiencing serious health... Continue Reading

Genetic Counselors

The Coding Committee recently received a question regarding how to bill for Genetic Counselors within the MFM practice. The Committee felt this was an opportune time to review coding & billing practices in this scenario. Coding for Genetic Counselors is not uniform across states and... Continue Reading

World’s Leading Clinicians and Researchers to Examine Social Determinants of Health

Washington, DC ― It has been well documented by the World Health Organization and others that social determinants of health (SDOH) — a person’s economic and social conditions — can have a major impact on their health, well-being, and quality of life. SDOH also contribute to wide... Continue Reading

Pregnancy Experts Reinforce Commitment to People with Diverse Sexual and Gender Identities

Stress Importance of Using Gender-Inclusive Language to Help Improve Health Outcomes Washington, DC ― The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) today reinforced its commitment to improving health outcomes in obstetric care for all people, including people with diverse sexual and gender... Continue Reading

Identifying Trimester Coding in ICD-10 - Replaces previous tip from 2015

In ICD-10 trimester-based coding is utilized to identify the trimester during the encounter. Instructions about obstetric trimester-based billing is found in Chapter 15. The CMS and the NCHS (within the US Federal Government’s DHHS) provides these instructions in their ICD-10 CM manual. ... Continue Reading

Maternal Fetal Medicine Billing Within an Integrated Group Practice

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New/Updated ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Codes for 2022

Effective each year on October 1, additions, deletions, and updates to the ICD-10-CM code set are published. This year, no significant changes were made to Chapter 15, the obstetrics chapter. However, there are a few new codes that could affect the practice of Maternal Fetal Medicine. The... Continue Reading

Care Coordination and Interprofessional Consultations

The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) Coding Committee; Steve Rad, MD; Amie Hollard, MD; Betzaida Martinez, CPCP, CPMA, COBGC, CPPM; Vanita Jain, MD MFM subspecialists frequently need to speak with other physicians for patient care coordination and/or are asked by other physicians to... Continue Reading

Coding Guidance for Monochorionic Diamniotic Twin Pregnancies

The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) Coding Committee; Mathew Esposito MD; Steve Rad, MD; Trisha Malisch, CCS-P, CPC; Fadi Bsat, MD; Vanita Jain, MD. The purpose of this coding tip is to provide guidance in coding service for patients with monochorionic diamniotic twins. SMFM has... Continue Reading