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.
Using Place of Service Codes Correctly
More and more carriers are cracking down on medical billing claims that have a lack of or incorrect place of service code. Even with the correct current procedural terminology code for E/M services, a medical billing claim that does not have a correct POS code will get your claim denied. It is a common occurrence in medical billing for the place of service codes to be misused or left out. There are several current procedural terminology codes for an evaluation and management session that correspond to different medical billing place of service codes. When using CPT 99341 (Home visit for the evaluation and management of a new patient) through 99350 …
Using Q Modifiers on Foot Care Claims
Make sure that you and your staff are up to date on using Q Modifiers as these were updated in 2007. Make sure you are getting the best reimbursements by using the currently preferred modifiers to be reported when the physician is performing foot care. Modifiers Q7 (One class A finding), Q8 (Two class B findings) or Q9 (One class B and two class C findings) tell insurers why your physician is performing foot care. To determine which modifier applies to your physician’s claim, check out the following list of what Medicare and other payers include in each description: Class A Finding:Nontraumatic amputation of foot or integral skeletal portion thereof …
Are You Reporting Circumcision With Nerve Blocks Correctly?
There are some new guidelines for reporting a nerve block with a circumcision. In the past you may have reported this as two separate procedures using 54150 to document the circumcision and 64450 for the accompanying nerve block. However the AMA has revised code 54150 (Circumcision, using clamp or other device with regional dorsal penile or ring block) in the new edition of CPT 2007 to include the accompanying nerve block in the description of the service. As such, it would now be unnecessary to report 64450 (Injection, anesthetic agent; other peripheral nerve or branch) with 54150 for this purpose, and the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) bundles 64450 into …
Medical Coding for Multiple FB’s in the Same Site?
Foreign bodies as you are well aware present often as people get in all sorts of accidents at the home and on the job. From the splinter in the eye from the weekend warrior who decided he was too cool to wear safety glasses when he was building a table to the kid that came into the ER with multiple embeds under the skin; they are all reimbursable procedures and if you aren’t getting half or better reimbursements, then you need to brush up on your coding and make sure your medical billing claims are airtight. Generally, it is always best to use only one code for foreign body removal …
Sick Visit Claims Could Be Costing Your Practice
Did you know you might have a cash flow leak and not know it? It’s not uncommon for practices to file medical billing claims without meeting requirements for the use of Modifier 25 in bundled sick claims and doing so could very well be costing your practice valuable reimbursement revenue. Fortunately, there are some simple rules to follow to ensure that you’re getting the best reimbursements for your claims. First of all, make sure that you know exactly what the payer requires for reimbursement on these claims. Next, make sure you document exactly what caused the encounter and what the outcome was. This shows a logical flow of information and …
