Archive for the Week of March 17, 2006
Archive for the Week of March 17, 2006
Welcome to the medical billing blog archive for the week of March 17, 2006.
Here you will find links to every article added to the Outsource Management Group web site during the week of March 17, 2006.
You can browse this week's archives by clicking the "More" button from any of the excerpts below.
Specified Covered Outpatient Drug Payments Make GAO Unhappy
Right now the Government Accountability Office is not a medical billing staff member’s best friend. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are going head to head with the Government Accountability Office in regards to the new medical billing outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS). The Government Accountability Office claims that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has overestimated payments for prescription drugs and radio pharmaceuticals. They claim that the amount Medicare will pay for medical billing is more than it will cost hospitals to acquire these drugs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are planning to use a system called SCOD (specified covered outpatient drugs) to calculate the …
Don’t Lose Money With Radiation Medical Billing
You could be losing money on radiation treatment therapy if you don’t do your medical billing correctly. Did you know that you could lose out on over $100 if you miss one radiation therapy reimbursement. A great medical billing skill is knowing how to maximize your revenue with radiation therapy. Radiation is a type of treatment that is frequently done two or even three times a day. It is a perfectly acceptable medical billing practice to bill separately for radiation completed on the same day. It is important, however, to pay attention to the medical billing requirements set forth by the payers. Many payers require a certain amount of time …
Ways to Protect Medical Billing PHI
Transcription is a large factor in medical billing. A lot of medical transcription is hired outside of physician’s office. This can leave a lot of room for internet criminals to steal valuable PHI information used in your medical billing. Protecting your patient’s PHI not only protects your practice, but also protects their identity. There are several steps you can take to protect your patients’ medical billing PHI. The ability for criminals to obtain PHI has increased over the recent years and made it necessary to install security measures. You may know what your medical billing security practices are, but you must also know what those practices are for your transcription …
2006 Medical Billing Quality of Care
Quality of care will be of the utmost importance to medical billing in the year 2006. Now, more than ever, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services have decided to focus reimbursement on healthcare quality. There are two ways in which CMS is trying to improve medical billing and quality of care in nursing homes. Recently The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has introduced a new website called STAR (Setting Targets, Achieving Results). This website focuses not only on medical billing, but also the quality of care in nursing homes. It aids nursing homes in sharing publicly reported data and has many quality improvement tools included. The web address …
Medical Billing Mandates Increase Premiums
State regulated medical billing mandates may be beneficial to some people, but they drive the premium costs higher. A Heritage Foundation report was conducted that had significant information for states. It suggested that the more health coverage mandates a state had, the higher the individual premiums. Medical billing mandates that are meant to help citizens may in fact be hindering them. In the Heritage Foundation medical billing report, four variations of state regulations were measured: health plan liability, mandated benefits, direct access to specialists, and provider due process. It was found that on average, medical billing premiums rose $26.72 per month in states with health plan liability mandates. In states …
Two Scans May Mean Less Reimbursement
Extensive Medicare fee reductions could severely hurt physicians bankbooks in the medical billing arena. Some physicians warn that if the projected 4.3 percent cut takes place in 2006, they may have to go out of business. One of the major issues of the debate deals with radiology scans. The American College of Radiology has a bone to pick with this possible medical billing change. The 2006 scan rule is as follows: When performing two imaging services on the same day, the payment for the technical component of the second imaging scan will be reduced by 50 percent of the current reimbursement. Radiologists are outraged by this possible medical billing cut. …
What is Medical Practice Management?
Medical Practice management is a powerful tool practices can use to fulfill their medical billing needs and more. There are four categories medical Practice management firms provide: medical coding services, medical billing services, physician credentialing, and consulting services.Medical coding services are useful services to outsource for your medical billing needs. These firms can code services and submit claims for your practice. This saves many man hours and allows only experienced people to handle the claims. The next service provided by medical practice management is medical billing services. Usually these firms can have access to your database and office information. They are in charge of making sure your office gets paid …
