Medical Billing Blog: Section - Medical Billing
Archive of all Articles in the Medical Billing Section
This is the archive containing links to all articles written in the Medical Billing 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.
Understanding Observation Medical Billing
A common problem many medical billing professionals face is how to handle observation related medical billing claims. The basic rule is that the patient must be in observation for a minimum of 8-hours to qualify for medical billing for observation stays. In the situation where you have a patient that was admitted and stayed less than eight hours and was released and then re-admitted less than eight hours later, is to use the observation as one day but not the same day as the discharge. CPT codes 99218-99220 and 99217. For handling an observation stay that includes an admission and discharge on the same date, you would not use 99218-99220 …
Nurses Help Hospital Medical Billing Bottom Lines
You already knew that nurses were important to your patient’s health care, but did you know they also help your medical billing reimbursement bottom line? Although there would be increased hours for the nurses, it would not mean more medical billing cost to you. Extra nurse hours would mean improved medical billing reimbursement for your hospital. A recent study done shows that a nurse care could reduce patient deaths by 6700 per year. Not only would patient deaths decrease per year, but the number of hospital days would decrease by 4 million as well. You may think that less hospital days would mean less medical billing reimbursement. However, that is …
Get Up To Date On Your Q Modifiers for Foot Care
More Q Modifiers were updated recently, make sure that your staff is up to date on the currently preferred to be reported when the physician is performing foot care. Modifiers Q7 (One class A finding), Q8 (Two class B findings) or Q9 (One class B and two class C findings) tell insurers why your physician is performing foot care. To determine which modifier applies to your physician’s claim, check out the following list of what Medicare and other payers include in each description: Class A Finding:Nontraumatic amputation of foot or integral skeletal portion thereof Class B Findings:Absent posterior tibial pulseAdvanced trophic changes such as (three of the following sub-categories qualify …
Coding a Follow-Up Visit that Turns Into a Counseling Session
Patients don’t always stick to the sole reason for their medical visit. Especially pediatric visits. A good scenario that is not too uncommon is when a mother brings in her son for a follow up visit to determine if his ear infection (otitis media) has subsided with the antibiotic regiment that was prescribed. However during the recheck she has questions about some behavior she is seeing in her son that leads her to believe he may be ADD (attention deficit disorder) and the physician has a counseling session with her that discusses options and risks involved, possibility of medications and other forms of treatment that takes about 25 minutes. The …
Getting Rid of Hard Copies
A question that comes up periodically is how should a medical practice dispose of the hard copies of files? The answer isn’t rocket science, shredding is the only good answer. When you are ready to dispose of hard copies medical files, anything with a patient’s name on it should be shredded.If you don’t have the staff available you don’t want to invest in an industrial-sized shredder, a good alternative would be to hire an outside shredding service that will either come to your offices and shred on site; or pick up your files, lock and store them in sealed containers and put them on a closed end truck that is …
AMA Revises Code 54150
There are some new guidelines for reporting a nerve block with a circumcision. In the past you may have reported this as two separate procedures using 54150 to document the circumcision and 64450 for the accompanying nerve block. However the AMA has revised code 54150 (Circumcision, using clamp or other device with regional dorsal penile or ring block) in the new edition of CPT 2007 to include the accompanying nerve block in the description of the service. As such, it would now be unnecessary to report 64450 (Injection, anesthetic agent; other peripheral nerve or branch) with 54150 for this purpose, and the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) bundles 64450 into …
Correct Use of Modifier 51
The multiple procedure code Modifier 51, causes some confusion among medical billing professionals because it relates to multiple procedures performed but what many medical coders miss is the fact it only applies to multiple procedures performed by physicians and imaging centers. Using this modifier can get your claim denied and cause a large delay in receiving reimbursements. Carriers already assume during a hospital stay that multiple procedures will already be performed therefore designation of the exact nature and type of services rendered by the attending physician will still suffice for hospital medical billing claims. The CPT manual designates modifier 51 (Multiple procedures) exempt codes with a “circle with a slash” …
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 …
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 …
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 …
