Medical Billing Blog: Section - Modifiers
Archive of all Articles in the Modifiers Section
This is the archive containing links to all articles written in the Modifiers 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.
Wound Closure Medical Billing -Dermabond or Stitches?
When a wound needs closing and a tissue adhesive is used the medical billing coding can be different than when sutures or stitches are used. There are specific guidelines for medical billing when tissue adhesives are used. All adhesives including Dermabond have their own unique way of being reported on medical billing. Consult with Medicare or the carrier to ensure that you are meeting those guidelines prior to submitting your medical billing. There are five basic guidelines that Medicare requires in order to reimburse for this service and many carriers follow the same criteria for laceration closures utilizing Dermabond. You should report G0168 for Medicare patients only; the CPT code …
Is Your ADL Coding Accurate?
Will inaccurate activities of daily living scores hurt you? You bet. ADL coding is something that auditors will be watching heavily and if you’re not calculating yours correctly, you’ll penalized and fined. One way to make sure your facility is well within the guidelines of billing permissibly and ethically is to do a RUG profile of your residents and compare your facility to the state and national averages. You can compare at your facility to the other agencies in your state and against the national averages at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/mds). If you find that your facility has far fewer rehab RUGs ending in …
Medical Billing for TB Screenings Made Easy
TB is in the news more and more and if you aren’t already seeing an increase in TB screenings, it’s likely your practice could experience it in the future. If you have a medical billing claim involving a patient that is at an increased risk for tuberculosis (TB) infection or is already having symptoms, a TB screening can be performed. If your practice runs these tests, be aware that in many cases, you can get reimbursed for the test as a medical necessity. When processing the medical billing for a TB skin test (86580) or blood test (86480) due to pulmonary TB symptoms or known TB exposure or risk. The …
RVUs Made Easy!
RVUs (relative value units) cause a lot of confusion in the medical billing world when you’re dealing with imaging procedures. It’s really just a matter of listing your services rendered logically then tallying them up from largest to smallest. For example, imaging codes aren’t discounted under the multiple-surgery payment reduction, so you typically list surgical codes first, in order by RVU, then the imaging codes. Your final coding report should look like this in order : * 35471 main coding * 36245 main coding * 75722-26-59 procedure with modifier * 75966-26. procedure with modifier Just remember to list the “heavier” codes at the top of your list and the lighter …
To Bundle or Not to Bundle?
Critical Care Medical Billing Critical care is often confusing in the world of medical billing as a number of factors can come into play and whether you need to bundle services or not will also be an issue. Due to the nature of the critical care – notes are often made hurriedly and in many cases are incomplete and it is up to the medical billing professional to put it all together into a package that will be clear, concise and easy to read for the carrier to the services may be reimbursed. A good example is if a surgeon performed 64 minutes of critical care for a patient in …
