Medical Billing Blog: Section - Medicare

Archive of all Articles in the Medicare Section

This is the archive containing links to all articles written in the Medicare 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.

Ready for your Medicare Site Visit?

Securing a Medicare provider number is a priority for any new practice. Properly submitted electronic Medicare claims can turn to cash in 21 days and can help establish a predictable cash flow. Part of the approval process includes a site visit and presentation of “QID’s” such as #14120: DOCUMENTED BILLING PROCEDURES that states “Sound practice management provides for defined billing procedures and reference materials as a component of increased accuracy.” When you engage a billing and coding company make sure the support team you choose is familiar with all Medicare procedures including the all-important site visit and the information required and presented during the visit. A company that is familiar

Published By: Melissa Clark, CCS-P | No Comments

Getting Those "Q" Modifiers Right For Medicare

Remember when medical billing used to be a simple affair of matching the procedure done with a couple of medical billing codes to describe what was done, attaching your documentation and then submitting your medical billing claim for reimbursement? Now we have codes for codes and modifiers and the need to when to bundle and when to not bundle with the goal being fair reimbursement for procedures done. Modifiers cause a lot of confusion for many medical billers. One such confusing modifier that is worth clarifying is Q6. This applies to Medicare medical billing claims only, but in a nutshell when one of your staff physicians takes a leave of

Published By: Melissa Clark, CCS-P | No Comments

Report – HHA’s and Hospices Are Billing Medicare Accurately

A recent report showed that HHA’s (home health agencies) and hospices are billing Medicare on an accurate level according to a report compiled by the CMS’ Comprehensive Error Rate Testing. The report showed that HHAs had a 1.4 percent error rate and hospices a 1.0 percent error rate in the November CERT report, which covers claims from April 2006 to March 2007. DME (durable medical equipment) suppliers had a wide range of error rates broken out by supplier type. The lowest was 0.6 percent for a medical supply company with prosthetic/orthotic personnel certified by an accrediting organization while the highest was a whopping 51 percent for “unknown supplier/provider” where it

Published By: Melissa Clark, CCS-P | No Comments

Medicare Website Updated to Make Medical Billing Information Easier, Faster to Find

Due to high usage and informational usage by the medical billing community at large, the Medicare website has revamped certain areas to make their site easier to search and access. When a medical biller is looking up information, at the Medicare coverage site located at www.cms.hhs.gov/mcd/search.asp, it is now easier than ever to search for the coverage limitations and other required information that you need. The page is now set up to ask if the biller is asking for a local or national coverage determination to avoid confusion and misinformation that was previously disseminated as there are certain differences between local and national coverages for certain procedures. Medical billers may

Published By: Melissa Clark, CCS-P | No Comments