Archive for The Month of May, 2006

Archive for the Month of May, 2006
Welcome to the medical billing blog archive for the month of May, 2006.
Here you will find links to every article added to the Outsource Management Group web site during the month of May, 2006.
You can browse this month's archives by clicking the "More" button from any of the excerpts below.

New Coding For Educational Services
You may already be tearing your hair out trying to keep up with the ever-changing CPT codings and relearning the newly changed codes on your superbill. There were also 3 low-key series additions that describe educational services that you may provide. Education and Training For Patient Self Management includes the following codes: * 98960–Education and training for patient self-management by a qualified, nonphysician healthcare professional using a standardized curriculum, face-to-face with the patient (could include caregiver/family) each 30 minutes; individual patient. * 98961–… 2-4 patients * 98962–… 5-8 patients. Reserve Self-Management for Non-MD Education is another set that was added and includes the range of codes from (96150-96155). Only non-physicians …
Medical Billing Dilemma – Reporting Two Codes
When a laparoscopic procedure is performed, it may seem like it should be reported separately from the open procedure, however at this time, most carriers and that includes Medicare will only pay for one open procedure no matter how much work the surgeon does laparoscopically beforehand. With very rare exception, you should report the open procedure only as using the laparoscopic code may result in your medical billing claimed being deemed over coded and will be rejected. Another rule of thumb to know when reporting this type of procedure is when an endoscopic procedure is attempted and fails on the patient and then another surgical service is rendered, only the …
Looking Ahead to the 2007 Physician Fee Schedule
CMS has released a preview of its payment adjustments for physicians in 2007 and in the preview ,there are even more cuts in Part B reimbursement. CMS projects a 4.6 percent cut to the 2007 Physician Fee Schedule, and explaining this is due to an almost 9 percent increase in spending as a large contributing factor to this decision. On the list of spending increases that was released by CMS, the minor procedures category is listed as one of the fastest growing areas with the highest number of claims being in the fields of podiatry and dermatology. Of the 9 procedures that accounted for the largest spending growth, the following …