Archive for the Week of September 15, 2006
Archive for the Week of September 15, 2006
Welcome to the medical billing blog archive for the week of September 15, 2006.
Here you will find links to every article added to the Outsource Management Group web site during the week of September 15, 2006.
You can browse this week's archives by clicking the "More" button from any of the excerpts below.
Avoid Denials with Proper NCCI Edits
July 2007 will bring more NCCI edits that you need to know in order to avoid denials and get maximum reimbursements on your medical billing claims. This group of edits will mainly affect emergency room practitioners and physicians and nurses that treat patients in nursing homes. The codes that were changed in the upcoming release were codes 99281-99285 (Emergency department services) are considered component codes of the more global 99304-99306 codes (Initial nursing facility care). This means if a single physician provides a level-two ED service along with a level-two initial nursing home service, you should only report 99305 (Initial nursing facility care, per day, for the evaluation and management …
More Information About Medical Billing Modifiers
Many medical billing claims get rejected for the smallest of mistakes. In many cases it can be something as simple as an incorrectly used modifier causing your claim to be rejected by the carrier. Modifier 25 which reads , “Significant, separately identifiable evaluation and management service by the same physician on the same day of the procedure or other service” is kind of a catch all modifier for procedures that may not have an exact coding you can assign. In the previous wording for Modifier 57 it caused some confusion with Modifier 25. If you haven’t updated your CMS coding, be sure you have the latest as 57 now simply …
Chronic Bronchitis Medical Billing Claims
If your medical billing claims for patients who present and are diagnosed with chronic bronchitis are getting denied payment by the carrier; take a very close look at the code you’re using to report this condition. One of the biggest reasons chronic bronchitis isn’t paid on a claim is because it is reported as a general chronic code using 491.9, Unspecified chronic bronchitis. The trick is to forego choosing the 491.9 as the ICD-9 will lead you to do. Instead look for the diagnosis of the possible cause of the chronic bronchitis such as chronic asthma which has its own specific code. If procedures were performed on the patient, note …
Getting Your Medical Billing For Soft Tissue FBR Right
Foreign body removal (FBR) is a very common procedure that emergency department physicians wind up performing on a regular basis. However this particular procedure causes a lot of confusion in the medical billing department. To insure that maximum reimbursements are met, you need to know how to code it accurately. The reporting of soft tissue FBRs will involve more than one choice in which code to use on the superform and knowing exactly what makes and FBR an FBR procedure will help you narrow down exactly which code to use to avoid unnecessary delays in payment or rejections. The confusion often arises when coders look at the notes from the …
Things to Consider About Outsourcing
It can seem daunting to hire a medical billing consultant. Especially if you have never outsourced your billing or you feel as though you would be relinquishing control over your billing which is not the case. In reality, outsourcing your medical billing and coding needs through a consultant is one of the smartest business moves you can make. Don’t think you have to use a local company, many medical billing firms have branch offices in an area near you, but others may be miles to hundreds of miles away, and thanks to the power of the internet with secure connections and software advances that allow you to transfer your patient …
