Interesting News About Medicare Medical Billing

In a recent study done concerning Medicare billing, researchers discovered that more than 92% of the claims paid were for beneficiaries with three or more conditions.

Aggressive treatments of more common ailments such as obesity and metabolic syndrome have triggered escalating spending on medical billing turned into Medicare for reimbursement. The researchers concluded that aggressive treatments on these type of conditions will snowball into additional spending in years to come.

Obesity is a driving force behind many of the multiple ailment filings and the obesity rate has nearly doubled since 1987 and the number of claims regarded obesity related illnesses since that time has tripled.

Long term management of chronic disease such as Type II Diabetes has been linked to poor diet. Heart ailments have been linked to diet and lack of exercise. Chronic knee conditions are aggravated by weight gain. Often, a myriad of illnesses and chronic conditions are the direct result of obesity.

The study concluded that the need for better intervention for obesity and chronic disease is apparent. Currently, Medicare does reimburse for certain types of counseling and intervention to manage obesity. In the future the reimbursements for such treatments may be greatly reduced due to the sheer numbers of patients that are obese.

The bottom line is this: if Medicare begins to pay very limited amounts on obesity-related illnesses, the other carriers may eventually follow suit.

View all Articles by: Melissa Clark, CCS-P