Archive for The Month of January, 2007
Archive for the Month of January, 2007
Welcome to the medical billing blog archive for the month of January, 2007.
Here you will find links to every article added to the Outsource Management Group web site during the month of January, 2007.
You can browse this month's archives by clicking the "More" button from any of the excerpts below.
New to Medical Billing?
Understanding the basics of medical billing will make it easier to process claims and do your coding correctly, even if you don’t work in the industry full time or you are new to working in a practice. You will hear two terms over and over. ICD-9 and CPT. These are the two coding systems that are used to process medical billing forms. The first acronym is the one that identifies the type of disease or physical state of the patient being treated. Those are the ICD-9 codes which stands for International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification, or shortened ICD-9-CM, codes) and another that describes the procedures, services or …
Eliminate Confusion Over 99053 and 99058 in Billing
There were two new codes issued in 2006 that continue to confuse many medical billers. These two codes were created to specifically address the after-hours and red-eye services for procedures done by physicians outside the normal hours. Previously when compiling the medical coding for medical billing, a coder would have used 99050 as a “catch-all” coding. Now CPT has revised the original code and added new codes. 99053 is “for services between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. in 24-hour facilities,” and will be used by both physicians on call and hospitals. Please note that code 99053’s wording to include “24-hour facility” will put a new limitation on using late night …
When to Provide Family and PH V Codes
With all of the various codes in relation to the medical field, some may tend to become a bit confused when it comes to figuring out the difference between both personal and family history V codes. Basically, what you need to remember is that the V codes are there to help give a window into past patient history. If there is an ongoing medical condition, the V codes can be used to tell the tale. When looking into personal history, you can find out more about any prior procedures, hospitalizations and operations, as well as any previous illnesses and injuries that the patient has endured. This can help to show …
Free Up Your Staff By Outsourcing
If you are finding that you’re chasing medical billing claims and having a lot of rejections, it may not be your staff, it might be that they are unable to keep up with the fast pace of the ever-changing medical billing industry. It might be time to consider outsourcing your medical billing claims. And you can get a lot more than just have your medical billing claims handled. We can provide a complete medical billing service for your practice. It will include filing both your electronic and paper claims along with any necessary consulting. We also offer comprehensive medical coding services. This includes analysis of your claims, coding audits and …
Easy Tips for Dealing With Pesky Pessary Coding
Have you ever struggled while dealing with pesky pessary coding issues? If so, then it is a great idea to come up with some sort of strategy that will help you to better understand these codes as well as the different reasons for them. When you are dealing with the pessary codes, you should take several things into consideration including the information provided in manuals, the procedures at hand, what the policies are for the particular practice and all of the supplies that are involved. Basically, the definition of a pessary is a specific support device to aid in weaknesses of the pelvic floor. Such weaknesses or problems will include …
Can Medical Billing Services Benefit Your Practice?
Feeling stretched too thinly? If so you will find our medical billing services can help you tremendously and it doesn’t matter if you’re located within Indiana or outside the state, we can handle medical billing claims nationwide. When you decide you’d like to use our medical billing services, we know that each provide and practice is completely individual in their needs and we will consult with your to find out what your concerns are regarding your billing. We will set your office up to communicate your medical billing claims via secure transmission to our office. If you’re interested in the rest of our Medical Billing Services we can also do …
Hold Ups On Medical Billing Claims Due to Zip Codes
Effective January 1, 2007; if you do not include your zip code on your medical billing claims that are submitted to Medicare for reimbursement, you can count on a delay. A National Provider Identifier requirement to include your zip code on all billing transactions took effect Jan. 1. This included all bills including RAPs, and providers must report a five or nine-digit zip code for their primary facility and its subparts. Claims without the zip codes will be returned to provider (RTP’d) with reason code 32114. This will affect any facility that does medical billing claims for Medicare reimbursement. Many providers were unaware of the new requirement and a large …
Medical Billing Dilemma – POS Codes
For correct payment amount, accurate place of service codes are required. The failure to provide the correct place of service code with the correct current procedural terminology code for E/M services will cause your claim to get denied. One of the most important elements of medical billing is the place of service code. In medical billing, the place of service codes for an evaluation and management are commonly misused. There are several current procedural terminology codes for an evaluation and management session that correspond to different medical billing place of service codes. When using CPT 99341 (Home visit for the evaluation and management of a new patient) through 99350 (which …
6 Tips for OB-Gyn Medical Billing
For maternity, a global medical billing is the most common form of claim submission. This can get very tricky for the personnel in your office. Be sure to train your medical billing staff the correct way to bill global maternity claims. There are 6 medical billing tips for global Obstetrical care. First, be sure that your diagnosis code (ICD-9) range in the 640-678 numbers. These are the only acceptable ICD-9 codes for global maternity care. Diagnosis codes are the first step to a correct claim. The second tip also deals with the diagnosis code. Be sure you use the correct fifth digit when you decide to use this many numbers. …
What are NCCI Edits?
If you’re still uncertain what a mutually exclusive edit is and whether you’re using the latest NCCI version in your ob-gyn practice, you could be setting yourself up for future reimbursement hassles. The National Correct Coding Initiative edits are pairs of CPT or HCPCS Level II codes that Medicare (and many private payers) will not reimburse on an individual basis except under exceptional circumstances. Medicare applies the edits to services billed by the same provider for the same beneficiary on the same date of service. Example: The most recent edition of NCCI (version 12.2), effective July 1, includes an edit bundling therapeutic injection code 90772 (Therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic injection …
