Archive for The Year of 2005
Archive for the Year of 2005
Welcome to the medical billing blog archive for the entire year of 2005.
Here you will find links to every article added to the Outsource Management Group web site during 2005.
You can browse this year's archives by clicking the "More" button from any of the excerpts below.
Rechargeable Neurostimulator Medical Billing Codes
Rechargeable Neurostimulator Medical Billing Codes The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are staying current with the times when it comes to medical billing. New medical procedures are created each and every day. Some of these new services are covered by CMS while others are not. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has decided to cover rechargeable Neurostimulator codes. Effective on January 1, 2006, new Healthcare common procedural coding system (HCPCS) codes will be implemented. These medical billing codes cover rechargeable neurostimulators like the Precision SCS system. The Precision SCS system allows patients some relief from pain by masking it with electrical signals sent to the spinal cord. Usually …
Should You do Medical Billing for Excision or Incision?
Should You do Medical Billing for Excision or Incision? The two medical billing terms excision and incision sound quite similar, but they are actually quite different in definition. There are certain situations in which it can be very confusing whether an incision & drainage code should be used, or and excision code. If you know the rules, the question of when to bill for an excision over an incision & drainage is a simple medical billing rule. Let’s look at an example. Your surgeon has a patient that has a sebaceous cyst. He/she needs to check and see if that cyst is benign or malignant. The surgeon goes in with …
Medical Billing Bounty Hunters are your Friends
Medical Billing Bounty Hunters are your Friends We all know overpayments are a problem in the medical billing field, but what about the underpayments. Underpayments hinder medical practices much more than overpayments. Medical billing overpayments only get the spotlight because the federal government has something to loose if they overpay a medical practice. Now, however, underpayments are getting the attention they deserve from the United States. Currently, there is a recovery audit contract demonstration project in affect. This project is designed to improve the accuracy and quality of medical billing. During the project, if the auditors found a medical billing overpayment, they would get a percentage of that amount as …
Medical Billing Mistakes Can Cost Your Thousands
Medical Billing Mistakes Can Cost Your Thousands Don’t let the federal government’s mistake cause your medical billing reimbursement to suffer. In September 2005, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that certain homecare contractors had made a medical billing mistake. It appears they had denied physicians payment for homecare services that should have been reimbursable. This medical billing error has negatively effected many organizations since then. The Medicare denial of payment effected the skilled nursing facilities especially. When physicians did not receive payment for necessary services, they ended up charging the care facilities directly. Unfortunately, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made a mistake. There were several services …
Excision Medical billing Made Simple
Excision Medical billing Made Simple Excision and Lesion medical billing can leave many doubts in your employees’ minds. There are so many gray areas that one can run into. There are several excision medical billing scenarios that can easily be cleared up with a simple explanation. Simple Excision (with referral)In medical billing, you will learn that many times services are included in the fees of another service. For example, if a general practice physician refers a patient to your surgeon’s office to check a mole, your surgeon might take one look at the mole and immediately remove it in the office. When it comes to the medical billing of this …
Medical Billing Reductions for Home Oxygen
Medical Billing Reductions for Home Oxygen Medical billing reimbursements may change for home oxygen providers. Currently, the HHS Office of Inspector General is circulating a survey about oxygen. Providers should beware of this survey. The HHS Office of Inspector General may use this survey to lower medical billing reimbursement rates. Lower medical billing reimbursement rates would be acceptable if they were correctly granted. However, the survey, and the HHS Office of Inspector General is not taking pertinent information into consideration. The survey fails to cover the services that accompany the oxygen therapy. Services that routinely do not require any documentation with medical billing have especially been forgotten. None the less, …
End Your Well Visit Denial of Claims
End Your Well Visit Denial of Claims Keep a close eye on payers after correctly performing medical billing! There can be inconsistencies with how a payer interprets coding procedures and how a practice interprets them. Currently there is an inconsistency with how to bill current procedure code 96110. The medical billing code 96110 should be separately reimbursable and not bundled with well exam codes as long as quality instruments are utilized. 96110 means: developmental testing; limited, (e.g. developmental screening test II, early language milestone screen), with interpretation and report. The American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Coding and Nomenclature reports that it is perfectly acceptable in medical billing to charge …
Power Mobility Codes Will Be Delayed By CMS
Power Mobility Codes Will Be Delayed By CMS Power mobility medical billing changes are on the horizon. There have been several thing cooking in the power mobility CMS kitchen. There will be new medical billing codes and a revision to the local coverage determination (LCD) for power mobility devices. Currently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has delayed the release of the medical billing changes. On October 14th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that they would be delaying the release of the 62 power mobility device codes. This also means there will be a delay for the local coverage determinations for medical billing. This delay is …
Medical Billing News : New CPT Codings
Medical Billing News : New CPT Codings New 2006 medical billing codes may make your job a lot more clear. There are several new codes effective in 2006 that more accurately describe medical services performed by your practice. Using these new codes may make your medical billing job easier. One set of new codes effective in 2006 is the Auditory Rehab medical billing codes. Not only is there a new code for the auditory rehab evaluation status: 92626 (first hour), but there is also a new code for the actual rehab. This new rehab code is 92630 (pre-lingual hearing loss). A post-lingual hearing loss medical billing code will be in …
Reimbursement For Critical Care Medical Billing Codes
Get Full Reimbursements For Critical Care Medical Billing Codes When performing medical billing for critical care services, much accuracy must be followed. It may not be the most important thing on a physician’s mind when a critical patient comes into the emergency room, but medical billing elements cannot be overlooked. There are two elements that are imperative for critical care medical billing: time and medical necessity. In order to use the codes 99291 or 99292 (Critical care, evaluation and management of the critically ill or critically injured patient; first 30-74 minutes and each additional 30 minutes), the patient must have a critical illness or injury. Critical is defined as having …
