Medical Billing Blog: Section - General Info
Archive of all Articles in the General Info Section
This is the archive containing links to all articles written in the General Info section of our blog.
Click any of the article links below to read the entire article or browse another section to the right to read articles on another subject.
No Time For Credentialing?
Did you know your medical billing partner can do far more than handling the flawless transactions of your medical coding and billing – they can also help you get credentialed with various carriers to insure that the services rendered by your practice are covered by various insurers that require a physician be part of their network in order to recognize claims submitted. If you have a busy practice, you may be putting off getting credentialed with additional insurance companies because you just don’t have the time to fill out the forms, questionnaires and other information in order to get approved with additional carriers. You know from previously getting credentialed that …
Common Medical Billing Coding Confusion
A common confusing coding dilemma concerns the diagnostic investigation of the swallowing function with a few different methods. The two codes that cause the most confusion are 70371 and 74230 and knowing when to use them will make the difference between a paid medical billing claim and a denial or delayed claim. Here is a breakdown of the basics for the two codes : 70371: Code 70371 (Complex dynamic pharyngeal and speech evaluation by cineradiography or video recording) describes a radiologic study using cineradiography or video recording for pharyngeal and speech evaluation. Typically, although not necessarily, a speech pathologist is present, and the patient repeats sounds to allow for evaluation …
Perinatal Billing Code Additions Coming Soon
Head’s up! There are ICD-9 code additions that will most likely impact OB/GYN’s. They haven’t been solidified yet, but here’s a sneak peak at what could be included in the coming changes. These codes are slated to be four new ICD-9 code changes that will become available in October. The four new codes will be in the perinatal sector of care and are : * 768.7 new code for hypoxia and birth asphyxia — , Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)* two new codes describing other respiratory problems after birth:* 770.87 — Respiratory arrest of newborn* 770.88 — Hypoxemia of newborn Another slated change may be the addition of a fifth-digit subclassification under …
How to Avoid Fraud and Abuse Charges In Your Medical Billing
Gainsharing in medical billing is highly scrutinized. The HHC Office of Inspector General is very suspicious about gainsharing activities with healthcare providers. There are three areas hospital providers should focus on in order to prevent medical billing fraud allegations. Improper gainsharing agreements are borderline fraud in medical billings. The three things hospitals can do to prevent any fraud charges are having sufficient quality controls implemented, promoting accountability, and limiting payments that lead to referral pattern changes. If all three of these elements are satisfied, your hospital will have no problem providing trustworthy medical billing. In order to run a hospital successfully, two things are necessary: quality of care, and profitability. …
Bulletproof Your Medical Billing Claims
Documentation is the Kevlar jacket for the medical billing industry. When you’re compiling your medical billing claim make sure that your documentation is detailed and exact in nature. Never submit a medical billing claim without documentation as it will only deny or delay your reimbursement on your claim. A good example is if a patient presents in an ED twice in one day. Generally most carriers will deny a medical billing claim showing duplicate visits. However if medical documentation shows the necessity of those visits were for two different services such as a critical care code (99291-99292) or reports prolonged care (99354-99355) in addition to the E/M code, the carrier …
