Medical Billing Blog with Medical Billing & Coding Info & Articles
Welcome to the Medical Billing and Coding Blog
Welcome to the medical billing blog containing news and articles relating to medical billing, medical coding, ICD, HIPAA and practice management functions.
2004-2024 Celebrating 20 Years of Healthcare RCM Articles
The Blog Currently Contains 1,265+ Healthcare Articles
Incorrect Medical Coding Can Cost You
Incorrect coding of your medical billing claims is the number one reason for loss of revenue in most practices. Simply put, if you’re not coding correctly, you’re losing money. Sometimes your medical billing claims will be partially paid, other times they will be completely denied. This causes lost time because your staff will need to go back, pull the file, verify what procedure was done, look up the code to make sure it hasn’t change and refile and resubmit the claim. When you consider on the average about 30% of paper claims are denied or kicked back for errors, throw in the fact sometimes medical billing codes can change 4 …
New Coding For Educational Services
You may already be tearing your hair out trying to keep up with the ever-changing CPT codings and relearning the newly changed codes on your superbill. There were also 3 low-key series additions that describe educational services that you may provide. Education and Training For Patient Self Management includes the following codes: * 98960–Education and training for patient self-management by a qualified, nonphysician healthcare professional using a standardized curriculum, face-to-face with the patient (could include caregiver/family) each 30 minutes; individual patient. * 98961–… 2-4 patients * 98962–… 5-8 patients. Reserve Self-Management for Non-MD Education is another set that was added and includes the range of codes from (96150-96155). Only non-physicians …
Medical Billing Dilemma – Reporting Two Codes
When a laparoscopic procedure is performed, it may seem like it should be reported separately from the open procedure, however at this time, most carriers and that includes Medicare will only pay for one open procedure no matter how much work the surgeon does laparoscopically beforehand. With very rare exception, you should report the open procedure only as using the laparoscopic code may result in your medical billing claimed being deemed over coded and will be rejected. Another rule of thumb to know when reporting this type of procedure is when an endoscopic procedure is attempted and fails on the patient and then another surgical service is rendered, only the …
Looking Ahead to the 2007 Physician Fee Schedule
CMS has released a preview of its payment adjustments for physicians in 2007 and in the preview ,there are even more cuts in Part B reimbursement. CMS projects a 4.6 percent cut to the 2007 Physician Fee Schedule, and explaining this is due to an almost 9 percent increase in spending as a large contributing factor to this decision. On the list of spending increases that was released by CMS, the minor procedures category is listed as one of the fastest growing areas with the highest number of claims being in the fields of podiatry and dermatology. Of the 9 procedures that accounted for the largest spending growth, the following …
Changes in Maryland Medical Billing for Medicare
If you are a physician located in Maryland, be aware that as of April, Medicare is now approving a broader coverage for the use of home oxygen for individuals that are enrolled in a federally approved clinical trial that is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Under the current Medicare statutes, Medicare only pays benefits for individuals that have a partial pressure measurement at or below 55mmHg or an oxygen saturation that measures in at or below 88 percent. If another disease or medical condition is present, Medicare will provide benefits if the partial pressure and oxygen saturation are raised one percent. So partial pressure would begin …
