Medical Billing Blog: Section - General Info
Archive of all Articles in the General Info Section
This is the archive containing links to all articles written in the General Info section of our blog.
Click any of the article links below to read the entire article or browse another section to the right to read articles on another subject.
January 2007 Will Bring Cuts in Reimbursements
This January will bring something even larger than the reported 4.7%; now it has been reported to be 5.1 percent. As you know the maximum Medicare can cut your payments in one year is 5.1 percent and normally those cuts are done in a number of cuts over each year for certain types of payments, this year it will happen all at once in January. The cut comes from the costs to reimburse certain programs are sky rocketing and Congress keeps canceling the annual cuts without considering the following year’s growth rate for funds that will be needed. In order to level off the amount of claims versus payments, Medicare …
Interesting News About Medicare Medical Billing
In a recent study done concerning Medicare billing, researchers discovered that more than 92% of the claims paid were for beneficiaries with three or more conditions. Aggressive treatments of more common ailments such as obesity and metabolic syndrome have triggered escalating spending on medical billing turned into Medicare for reimbursement. The researchers concluded that aggressive treatments on these type of conditions will snowball into additional spending in years to come. Obesity is a driving force behind many of the multiple ailment filings and the obesity rate has nearly doubled since 1987 and the number of claims regarded obesity related illnesses since that time has tripled. Long term management of chronic …
Know How to Code and Document Wound Debridement
Sometimes a wound gets worse before it gets better and knowing how to properly code it will enable your office to get the maximum reimbursements on your medical billing instead of having the treatment bundled. Debrided ulcers are not uncommon and knowing how to correctly document the staging and coding on the MDS is most of the problem. It is difficult to assign a stage to a wound you can’t see and the MDS does not allow you to bill for a wound you can’t stage. A good rule of thumb to use is to stage the wound at stage 4 (necrotic eschar is present) until the exact stage can …
Cutting Losses with Consolidated Billing in Rehab Facilities
If you’re finding that Medicare is kicking back a lot of your claims for being non-excluded services, there is something you can do to help your reimbursements – consolidated billing. Use heavy documentation and case manage all physician visits. Follow up and use detailed documentation for each service the patient received. A good example of this is if a patient is in a rehab facility for a hip fracture and needs to see an orthopedist for follow-up, call the doctor to schedule the appointment and ask what the surgeon will need, such as imaging or lab work. Tell the managing physician to order those services and have the results sent …
Talking Confidentiality
Confidentiality is a huge concern among patients and the medical industry at large. No other industry goes to such lengths to protect the data and privacy of their consumers. A question of authorization forms comes up frequently. A common situation is when a doctor’s office is asked to fax absentee notes verifying visits or the authorization to administer medications directly to a school or a camp. In the past, this was permissible, but in recent years with the patient confidentiality laws becoming more strict than ever; the rule of thumb has become that this is not standard office practices any longer. Since the forms would be faxed to a central …
Recording and Coding Wounds Properly
Any person who is involved in the medical field already knows just how important it can be when it comes to putting down the proper codes for each and every procedure. Taking care and making sure that the right code is recorded for the proper procedure can ensure that there will not be any problem down the line with health care providers and insurance carriers. However, sometimes it may be a bit more difficult to decide exactly which code needs to be used in every instance. Take the time to find out what the medical code should be before you end up reporting the wrong one and this could alleviate …
The Low-Down On Providing Family and Personal History 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. 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 the physician to easily see that there may have been occurrences in the past that could have …
Tips for Dealing With 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 …
Properly Discussing Coverage For Emergency Room Patients
It is no secret at all that no matter what the times are like in this country financially, there are still patients who do not have proper insurance coverage, and often times not even the means to pay for their medical bills should an emergency situation arise. The first priority should always be the well being of the patient in any type of an emergency medical situation. After all, caretakers are in the medical profession to help cure people and to save lives. However, there does come a time when you do have to inquire about how certain medical fees will be paid whether it be from an insurance carrier …
Taking Some Of The Confusion Out Of Consult Requests
Filing the proper documentation can end up being confusing enough without the added problem of finding out that you did not file the right papers to begin with. For any individual who has ever been involved in taking care of consult request documentation for physicians, this filing procedure has often been known to be a complete nightmare. There have been recent worries that specialists would end up being responsible for others who have filed either incorrect or incomplete paperwork, according to some rules in the Medicare guidelines. Any time that you find yourself faced with incomplete consult request documentation, you should know that you are not to be held responsible …
