Archive for The Month of February, 2006
Archive for the Month of February, 2006
Welcome to the medical billing blog archive for the month of February, 2006.
Here you will find links to every article added to the Outsource Management Group web site during the month of February, 2006.
You can browse this month's archives by clicking the "More" button from any of the excerpts below.
Performing Medical Billing for a Deceased Patient
Performing Medical Billing for a Deceased Patient Medical billing reimbursement in is allowed for deceased patients before occupying a hospital room. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services altered and updated their policy on July 03, 2005. Medical billing coding not only affects your bottom line, but also weight calculations for the DRG. Since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services changed their policy, the American Hospital Association (AHA) has asked the agency for further explaination and clarification of the policy. Medicare says that they consider a patient inpatient as soon as the doctor’s written order requests it. No matter if the patient dies before being assigned or not, room …
Medical Billing Code Restrictions Could Become Routine
Medical Billing Code Restrictions Could Become Routine Medical billing coding restrictions may become a trend in future years. Recently, laboratories have been the victim to this trend. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services has proposed a limit on the medical billing codes 88305 and 88342. The medical billing codes 88305 and 88342 are laboratory processing and pathology interpretation codes. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services are proposing that only two 88305 codes and 4 88342 codes may be billed for each patient per date of service. This medical billing change would go into effect on July 01, 2006. There are four agencies involved in this proposal . The …
Improper Medical Billing Reimbursement for Ambulance
Improper Medical Billing Reimbursement for Ambulance A recent study shows that United States citizens are paying dearly for incorrect and unwarranted medical billing payments. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has suspected for a long time that Medicare and ambulance benefits were and are vulnerable to abuse. Apparently, the OIG was correct. A medical billing study of 720 ambulance claims has shown significant overpayments. A whopping $402 million was paid in incorrect ambulance charges in the year 2002. This study is based on transports for emergency, non emergency, and transports to and from dialysis facilities. The OIG now blames Medicare contractors for these medical billing overpayments. They state that proper …
Specialty Hospitals Hinder Community Hospitals’ Medical Billing
Specialty Hospitals Hinder Community Hospitals’ Medical Billing You may not think that one hospital could affect another hospital’s medical billing, but you would be wrong. Community hospitals used to be the only hospitals around. Now specialty hospitals are popping up all over the country. These new specialty hospitals are beginning to hinder medical billing reimbursement for community hospitals. There are several issues of debate when speaking of specialty hospitals. Routinely these hospitals get the more profitable medical cases than the community hospitals. This causes problems for the community hospitals because they use these high profit cases to subsidize their lower profit cases. Not only do specialty hospitals take money away …
RAD Medical Billing Categories Will Change
RAD Medical Billing Categories Will Change Two new durable medical equipment codes will receive medical billing caps . Therapy services and durable medical equipment services have gone through many changes over the last year. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services have recently changed the category of two medical billing device codes: E0471 and E0472. The medical billing codes E0471 and E0472 are RAD codes. These codes used to be placed in the durable medical equipment category that was for items frequently used. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services announced that this change will take effect on April 01, 2006. The main reason CMS changed the category was because …
Can You Choose the Correct Medical Billing Pain Code?
Can You Choose the Correct Medical Billing Pain Code? Finding the right pain code can be a sticky situation in medical billing. When dental issues come into the picture, sometimes the medical billing staff members go crazy. Knowing how to simply break down a chief complaint in any situation is a medical billing skill everyone should master. If a patient comes into the emergency department and complains of a dental wire sticking into his/her lip, you already have your chief complaint. Even if your physician does not treat the patient but merely advises him/her to check with the dentist and buy someone wax from the local drugstore, you can still …
Wireless Charge Capture Improves Medical Billing
Wireless Charge Capture Improves Medical Billing New mobile technology is rocking the medical billing world. A new mobile application system called PatientKeeper Charge Capture is making the world a little easier for the Hebrew Rehabilitation center. This new system has quickly exceeded the hospital’s expectations, mobile devices are quickly becoming the wave of the future in medical building. There are many advances in technology that do little to affect the medical billing world. Mobile technology is different. The Hebrew rehabilitation center recently introduced new mobile technology to its hospital called the PatientKeeper Charge Capture. This new system has improved medical billing in many ways. One of the main benefits of …
Kaiser Begins Medical Billing Marketing
Kaiser Begins Medical Billing Marketing Kaiser is beginning to make its disease management medical billing available for self insured businesses. Many plans contract disease management from outside sources. Kaiser Permanente is different. This company has decided to keep its disease management services in-house. Kaiser Permanente is quickly becoming a medical billing force in America. Kaiser Permanente Healthy Solutions is the disease management subsidiary of Kaiser Permanente . Beginning soon, this medical billing giant will begin to market to national employers, groups, labor unions, and the national government. They believe their disease management services could improve medical billing for all groups. Kaiser anticipates signing on about five to eight new customers …
Medical Billing Data Theft
Medical Billing Data Theft The Portland Oregon has suffered a severe medical billing data breach. Providence Home Services, a home health agency, recently had their patient records stolen. This medical billing information breach severely compromises the privacy and confidentiality of its patients. Now Providence Home Services may be in trouble for a lack of medical billing security. 365,000 medical billing records were compromised on December 31, 2005. Records that dated back to 1987 were stolen. These included names, dates of birth, addresses, diseases , etc. The medical billing records were stolen from an employee’s car. Apparently, the agency appoints a different employee to cart computer files home every day. This …
History of Medical Billing Therapy Caps
History of Medical Billing Therapy Caps The issue of therapy caps is not a new topic in medical billing. The on again, off again nature of therapy caps has left medical billing staff members spinning. To fully understand the reasons for these limits, it is important to understand the history. Looking back into the history of therapy cap medical billing can give us a glimpse into the future. Perhaps the first introduction of therapy caps was in 1997. This is when Medicare implemented outpatient therapy caps in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. However, like any other medical billing policy, there are always exceptions. Certain providers and beneficiaries were protected …
