You tell him Joyce!  I look forward to his imput and humor, then there he
goes again with Retired Guy stuff.
I don't ever see a time I can retire...played to much with temporary jobs.
I will be 90 before I can look forward to the Boss-Kedell Home for the
Senile and Infirm.  A pox on his house!
Trisha
Seattle  

On Mon, 14 Feb 2000, Weems, Joyce wrote:

> Will you just hush about being retired and help us poor working souls out?
> You're the only one with time to work on these things!! We need you to go to
> Congress and set things straight!!! (But glad you're happy!!)  j:>)
> Joyce Weems
> Pathology Manager
> Saint Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta
> 
> 
> 	-----Original Message-----
> 	From:	Don Hammer [SMTP:donh7@earthlink.net]
> 	Sent:	Saturday, February 12, 2000 1:13 AM
> 	To:	Pam Marcum; Barbara Davies; Patricia Karlisch
> 	Cc:	Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
> 	Subject:	Re: Decals/charging
> 
> 	Pam,
> 
> 	I believe it was Harvard that designed the CPT codes and didn't take
> all the
> 	real world situations into their thought process.  It seems obvious
> by the
> 	way they are set up that Pathologists designed them and did not
> always take
> 	the Hospital component into their thought process.  ( I could give
> you
> 	examples, but it's up to you still in the profession to work it out)
> Now we
> 	have Medicare and the Insurance companies attaching dollar amounts
> to them
> 	with not much more knowledge of what the real world is.  Then there
> is the
> 	people working for Medicare and the Insurance companies trying to
> interpret
> 	medicine with sometimes little knowledge of what they are trying to
> 	interpret.  A bad situation at best!  Who will attempt to straighten
> all
> 	this out??  Not me, cause I'm,
> 	Don Hammer, Retired Guy  :)
> 
> 	----- Original Message -----
> 	From: Pam Marcum <pmarcum@polysciences.com>
> 	To: Don Hammer <donh7@earthlink.net>; Barbara Davies
> 	<Barbara_Davies@memhospcs.org>; Patricia Karlisch
> <PKARLISCH@PSGHS.EDU>
> 	Cc: <Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
> 	Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2000 6:28 AM
> 	Subject: RE: Decals/charging
> 
> 
> 	> CPT codes are based more often than not on Medicare charges
> defined by the
> 	> Gov.  There does not have to be rhyme or reason.  Pam Marcum
> 	>
> 	> -----Original Message-----
> 	> From: Don Hammer [mailto:donh7@earthlink.net]
> 	> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2000 11:31 PM
> 	> To: Barbara Davies; Patricia Karlisch
> 	> Cc: Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
> 	> Subject: Re: Decals/charging
> 	>
> 	>
> 	> Barb and Histonetters:
> 	>
> 	> Agree here, just like special stains and Immunos.  Someone needs
> to
> 	educate
> 	> the lawmakers.  :)
> 	>
> 	> Not me cause I'm......
> 	> Don Hammer, Retired Guy  :)
> 	>
> 	> ----- Original Message -----
> 	> From: Barbara Davies <Barbara_Davies@memhospcs.org>
> 	> To: Patricia Karlisch <PKARLISCH@PSGHS.EDU>
> 	> Cc: <Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
> 	> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2000 2:27 PM
> 	> Subject: Re: Decals/charging
> 	>
> 	>
> 	> > Barbara Davies/Histology/MEMHOSPCS
> 	> >
> 	> >
> 	> > Decal charge is charged per specimen.  The word 'specimen' is
> the key
> 	> here.
> 	> > The CPT4 code book defines a specimen as "tissue or tissues that
> is
> 	(are)
> 	> > submitted for individual and separate attention, requiring
> individual
> 	> > examination and pathologic diagnosis."   For instance, if you
> have a
> 	> femoral
> 	> > head cut it into 5 specimens and decal each, it should be
> allowed only
> 	one
> 	> decal
> 	> > charge, However, if you have a fragment of femur, a fragment of
> tibia, a
> 	> > fragment of knee  and decaled them all there could be 3 decal
> charges.
> 	> >
> 	> > Barb Davies
> 	> >
> 	> >
> 	> >
> 	> >
> 	> >
> 	> >
> 	> >
> 	> >
> 	> >
> 	>
> 	>
> 	>
> 	>
> 	
> 
> 

Trisha