Practice Management

Antibiotics can prove invaluable in the treatment of mastitis, but before you prescribe them, it's important to distinguish breast engorgement from infectious mastitis.

Does maternal epilepsy increase the risk of congenital malformations, or are the antiepileptic drugs to blame? Either way, the primary goal of therapy during pregnancy is to control a woman's seizures while minimizing fetal exposure to anticonvulsive drugs.

Case studies in coding gives practical advice on reimbursement.

Ob/gyns are having to devote significantly more time to medical genetics because of the field's increasing impact on clinical practice. The March of Dimes's new online genetics resource and continuing education program can help you respond to patients'needs with the most up-to-date, customized, and practical information

Most lesbian patients hesitate to reveal their sexual orientation, even though you need that information to deliver targeted health care. Creating a nonjudgmental office environment can encourage trust and disclosure, helping you to better address their unique health needs.

Ob/gyn patients undergo ultrasounds for a number of reasons. Because of the small variety of closely related U/S codes, successful billing for more than one U/S depends on the diagnosis and documentation.

Although CPT 2002 introduced specific new codes for fine-needle aspiration (FNA), those codes didn't clear up much of the confusion about how they apply.

Clinical meeting ACOG

Acquired and inherited thrombophilias can be related to repeat miscarriage. Knowing which mutations to look for and who and when to screen are key, although treatment remains controversial.

Coding and reimbursement for Medicare well-woman screening exams is one of the biggest challenges in ob/gyn coding. You must know whether a patient meets Medicare's criteria for "high risk" or "low risk." This risk factor determines the frequency with which Medicare pays for well-woman care.

Whether the etiology is androgen excess or something more benign, excess hair growth negatively impacts quality of life for millions of women. A thorough evaluation is required to uncover underlying causes and provide appropriate treatment.

When stomach, liver, or intestines herniate into the chest cavity of a fetus with this anomaly, they compress the fetal lung.

News Briefs

Can you get insurers to pay you for a procedure like endometrial biopsy performed at the same time as a problem-oriented visit? Sometimes. Be sure to bone up first on the intricacies of proper coding.

Who should undergo genetic testing? Before ordering it, three conditions should be met: There should be a greater than 10% likelihood of a positive test; the ordering physician should be able to interpret the result; and the information should be used to make management decisions.

Myotonic dystrophy (DM) is the most comnmon muscular dystrophy seen in adults.

Here's how to identify fetuses affected with one of the three major sickle hemoglobinopathies--along with antepartum and intrapartum management strategies to improve maternal and perinatal outcome.

While family planning clinics are hailing the FDA's recent approval of mifepristone (RU-486) as a noninvasive way to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, ob/gyns who decide to administer the drug need to familiarize themselves with the research on its advantages and disadvantages.

How to care for the HIV-infected pregnant patient

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