All Articles Written by Kathryn Disney-Etienne, CCS-P, RT
All Articles Written by Kathryn Etienne, CCS-P - RETIRED
Welcome to the archived list of all medical billing articles written and previously posted to the site by Kathryn Etienne, CCS-P, retired Director of Operations.
All articles are listed below and categorized by date, newest to oldest. Click any article link below to read the entire article.
Oh, Those Feelings of Rejection!
When your medical billing claims get rejected, one claim can put your staff behind on everything they are supposed to be doing. The patient’s folder will have to be pulled, the notes will have to be re-read and researched, the claim will have to be compiled again and the coding will need to be double checked again to make sure you are using the latest codings and modifiers for the claim. In some cases the carrier will need to be contacted which is more time lost from servicing your practice and the claim will have to be submitted once again and the will take more time away from your day …
Documenting for Chiropractors and Podiatrists
In 2007, Medicare is going to continue their close scrutiny of chiropractors and podiatrists. The claims submitted by these fields will continue to get looked over due to the extreme amount of fraud that has occurred in these two branches of medicine. Additionally, the stringent guidelines that are currently in place for chiropractors and podiatrists in order to meet payment requirements for certain procedures and debridement services will be getting looked at very closely and continue to be required in order to get their medical billing claims paid. If you perform these services or you are a medical billing company that does claims for these types of practices, check and …
A Common Reason for Rejection
One way that many medical billing claims get rejected for the smallest of errors. In many cases it can be something as simple as an incorrectly used modifier causing your claim to be rejected by the carrier. There are two modifiers that get a lot of people in to trouble in the form of rejected claims as they can be confusing and those are modifier 25 and 57. Modifier 25 which reads , “Significant, separately identifiable evaluation and management service by the same physician on the same day of the procedure or other service” is kind of a catch all modifier for procedures that may not have an exact coding …
How Cyber Secure Is Your Medical Billing?
The protection of medical billing personal health information is a priority. Criminals are constantly trying to access the information, while health care professionals try desperately to protect it. Computers and electronics may be a medical billing time saver, but when it comes to security, some practices fall a little short. There are many examples of good practices. A good example is found at The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. This facility has recently solved this electronic medical billing security problem with an innovative new system. PostX is the program of choice at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. This is a messaging system that was developed for seamless integration and extremely secure …
Confused About Flu Shots?
During flu season, flu shots are common in the medical billing world. Like everything else, there are many different flu current procedural terminology codes from which to choose. There are three steps to follow to ensure your flu shot medical billing is completely accurate. The first step is to figure in the age of the patient. Any patient who is age three and above should be given one of two medical billing codes: 90656 or 90658. The medical billing code 90656 stands for: influenza virus vaccine, split, virus, preservative-free, for use in individuals 3 years of age and above, for intramuscularly use. The code 90658 in medical billing means: Influenza …
