Medical Billing Blog: Section - Medical Billing
Archive of all Articles in the Medical Billing Section
This is the archive containing links to all articles written in the Medical Billing 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.
More Information About Medical Billing Modifiers
Many medical billing claims get rejected for the smallest of mistakes. In many cases it can be something as simple as an incorrectly used modifier causing your claim to be rejected by the carrier. 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 you can assign. In the previous wording for Modifier 57 it caused some confusion with Modifier 25. If you haven’t updated your CMS coding, be sure you have the latest as 57 now simply …
Proper Coding for Cervical Vertebroplasty
Some of the confusion about preparing medical billing is that the CPT does not always provide an exact code for a particular procedure, in this case we’ll use percutaneous vertebroplasty of cervical vertebra(e). It’s not a common procedure but it does occur and until recent years did not have its own designation and even today, some payers aren’t up to date on the proper coding to use to report this procedure. Before CPT added percutaneous vertebroplasty codes 22520-22522 in 2001, most payers recommended that coders report all vertebroplasty procedures using 22899 (Unlisted procedure, spine). Most payers still recommend using 22899 code for cervical vertebroplasties, as many carriers aren’t aware of …
Choosing A Medical Billing Company
Deciding to outsource your medical billing is not a decision to be taken lightly, and in the beginning you may not even need to outsource your billing in the beginning. But soon, you will find that your staff is so busy servicing your patients and running your office with its day-to-day goings on, finally you have to look at outsourcing. There have been some horror stories out there about physicians outsourcing their medical billing or practice management to a company and then finding out it cost them even more money because the company just wasn’t up to date on their coding books or simply not experienced enough to handle the …
History of Present Illness and Your Medical Billing
When to combine history of present illness and review of systems causes a lot of confusion among many practices. However it is possible to do and is perfectly acceptable to document an element once to account for HPI and ROS. In many instances, a physician will leave a medical billing company with tons of documentation for a review of systems, but not enough information for the history of present illness. The physician is missing out on some additional revenue by not documenting the ROS. The CMS states that physicians do not need to document an element two times for medical billing purposes. It is perfectly acceptable to use one element …
ADD/ADHD Medical Billing Reimbursements
Attention providers, are you getting reimbursed for your medical billing ADD medication rechecks? With the rise of ADD/ADHD in America, it is very important to medical practices to understand how to get paid. When dealing with mental health diagnoses, you walk a fine line with most insurance companies. There is one way most payers will reimburse your ADD/ADHD medical billing. Most physicians like to code ADD medication rechecks with the 90862 medical billing code. This code means, pharmacologic management, including prescription, use, and review of medication with no more than minimal medical psychotherapy. Although there is no problem using this CPT code with the diagnosis 314. (Hyperkinetic syndrome of childhood), …
Medical Billing Mistakes Can Cost Your Thousands
Medical Billing Mistakes Can Cost Your Thousands Don’t let the federal government’s mistake cause your medical billing reimbursement to suffer. In September 2005, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that certain homecare contractors had made a medical billing mistake. It appears they had denied physicians payment for homecare services that should have been reimbursable. This medical billing error has negatively effected many organizations since then. The Medicare denial of payment effected the skilled nursing facilities especially. When physicians did not receive payment for necessary services, they ended up charging the care facilities directly. Unfortunately, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made a mistake. There were several services …
Medical Billing Reporting For Inpatients Made Easy
Medical Billing Reporting For Inpatients Made Easy One of the most difficult medical billing feats is inpatient consultation coding. There are many instances when a follow-up inpatient consult should be replaced by a subsequent hospital care visit. To eliminate these medical billing errors, there are four facts to consider when coding for inpatient consults. The first fact is very obvious. If your report an inpatient consultation exam, the patient must be inpatient, not outpatient. Very often physicians see patients on a consultation basis when they are outpatient. Medical billing mistakes can be made easily. Double check your work. It is important in medical billing to always report one initial consultation. …
New Codes For Home Health Medical Billing
New Codes For Home Health Medical Billing The Home Health consolidated medical billing list is being updated. In an effort to smooth out the changes of moving to a new coding system, there have been some new home health service codes added to the repertoire. In addition to five new medical billing codes, there will be three supply home health consolidated billing codes that will disappear. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services have made it clear that home health services are not being redefined. The services still mean the same things. The only reason medical billing consolidated codes are being added and dropped is due to the new coding …
Getting Your Ob-Gyn Claims Paid With Correct Coding
Getting Your Ob-Gyn Medical Billing Claims Paid With Correct Coding There was a medical billing study done at the University of Illinois Hospital from 1999-2001. This was a study to see how many coding errors occurred in patients admitted for eclampsia and preeclampsia during this time. The study was astonishing. There were 67 total errors in this one study. Medical billing coding errors frequently happen with ob-gyn patients. Surprisingly, in this medical billing ob-gyn study, over 80% of the coding errors happened with clinicians. That means actual doctors were, and are, incorrectly coding ICD-9 codes and CPT codes. Most of the time people blame the actual coder instead of the …
Medical Billing Codes 70551-70553
Using Medical Billing Codes 70551-70553 for MRI and IAC Properly There are many times in medical billing when a patient receives both an IAC and brain MRI. The question is, can the medical biller be reimbursed for both of these services separately? If the medical billing personnel asked the American Medical Association this question, the answer would be simple. They would say that you can absolutely get separately reimbursed for an IAC and brain MRI in the same session. Realistically, however, this is not exactly true. The requirement to code for both x-rays is that they need two separate and distinct exams. Each exam is required to have distinct findings. …
