PCC Client Lobby

Each year in October, the Director of NCHS and the Administrator of CMS approve the release of new ICD-9 codes and revisions of existing ICD-9 codes.  New and updated codes should be used beginning on October 1, 2010.  

The list of new and updated codes is sometimes long, and not all codes apply to pediatric offices. PCC's Certified Pediatric Coder, Jan Blanchard, reviewed the list of updated codes to identify popular codes used by pediatric offices.  You may find the following list helpful as you prepare to use the new codes in your office.   Your practice management and electronic health record systems may both need to be updated in readiness for these new and updated codes.  

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The next regular release of Partner begins in June. This release, Version 4.1, includes a redesigned Partner Recaller reporting interface to make it easier for you to define and reuse the reports you need to recall patients.

Read the complete Partner 4.1 feature list and review the online documentation for the new Patient Recaller which includes a step-by-step Physical Recall guide.  Also, PCC is offering three weblabs in June about the new Recaller to help you get started with using this newly improved feature of your Partner software.

NEW at learn.pcc.com!  Check out the Patient Recall Video. This video reviews the new features via a walk-through of two sample patient recall projects.  

The roll-out of Partner Version 3.2010 will  be complete in early May.

In the second half of this month, we'll be automatically updating all PCC client offices with a mini-release of Partner, comparable to what you may think of in your office as a "recheck." This release contains a number of small enhancement requests and bug fixes from the update. Doing these smaller mini-release more frequently will minimize disruption to your office.

Coming soon in June will be the next release of Partner, which includes several feature requests as well as a redesigned Partner Recaller reporting interface to make it easier for you to define and reuse the reports you need.  We will be reaching out to several offices to ask for your participation in testing this newest Partner release.

Keep an eye on your InsidePCC Email in the coming weeks for the detailed feature list of the next Partner release and links to online education materials that will help you to learn about new features.

At PCC, we strive to provide pediatricians with tools and information to maintain a healthy bottom-line. With this goal in mind, we have a new survey aimed at capturing practice cost data for pediatric practices of all sizes.

Using the results, we will provide you with the cost and staffing benchmarks that you need to make informed decisions for your practice. All participants who fully complete the survey will receive a summary of the results, along with a customized report comparing your practice's data with pediatric benchmarks, provided we receive a meaningful sample size.

This is an in-depth survey that will prompt you for specific information about your staffing levels and costs. You can save your answers and return to the survey later, as well as download a printable copy of the full survey.

Please submit your survey results by May 15. Your participation will help us obtain valuable practice cost data that will benefit your practice and other pediatric offices!

Participate in the survey.

Grow Greener with PCC at the 2010 PCC Users' Conference in Burlington, Vermont from July 21-23. Holding the UC in the green mountain state inspired us to think green as we planned this year's schedule, which is, as always, pediatric-specific. Paperless charting for a greener environment, a focus on growing your practice and improving efficiency, and getting a greener bank account are some of the many exciting topics we have planned for you at this year's conference.

Registration is now open and a draft of the UC Course Schedule is online. Learn more and register now.

Vaccine Information Statements (VIS) for Gardasil and Cervarix, dated 3/30/2010, were posted on March 31. These are interim VISs, and replace the single HPV VIS dated 2/2/07. Stocks of this older VIS may be used up, although the updated editions are preferred; it may be supplemented verbally or with written materials as appropriate to inform patients of changes (e.g., use of Gardasil in males). They are available for download from the CDC web site and can be printed from Partner with a patient's name, DOB, etc. printed on with encounter forms.

Partner Version 3.2010 begins rolling out this week. If you haven't already, your practice should be hearing from us soon about scheduling your update between now and early May.

This Partner update includes feature requests, better history messages, an update to the epidemic program, and more. PCC listened to your most-requested features and made general improvements to several areas of Partner. We added race and ethnicity tracking, improved phone note logging for security, standardized the billing messages that appear in oops, and implemented a series of improvements to Partner's Epidemic Prevention program. Read more about the upcoming Partner release.

The Summer 2010 PCC EHR Early Adopter Program kicks off in April. Offices committing to the Summer Early Adopter Program will follow a special Guided Go-Live implementation process that begins April 14-15 and leads to an online date between June and August 2010. The deadline to sign up is April 1!

If you're still pondering being a part of the Summer Early Adopter group, return your  Agreements to PCC today, or learn more about this opportunity.

The FDA is recommending that clinicians and public health officials temporarily suspend the use of Rotarix after learning that components of an extraneous virus are present in the vaccine. There is no evidence at this time that this finding poses a safety risk, but the FDA is recommending suspension of the vaccine as they learn more about the situation. Learn more.

PCC's Certified Professional Coder, Jan Blanchard, offered up the following piece of coding news this week:

• 90670 Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, 13 valent, for intramuscular use achieved FDA status on February 23. This code will not appear in the printed copy of CPT until the 2011 CPT codebook is published. Read more.