Category: Blog

Maximizing Medicaid Expansion Benefits

Maximizing Medicaid Expansion Benefits

Three more states voted in this previous election to expand Medicaid. Virginia will be going forward with Medicaid expansion on January 1, 2019. Though Medicaid reimburses you at a very low rate, they will pay more than most self-pay patients and the cost to collect is much lower. The payer mix shifting from uninsured to […]
Spinal Fusion Codes

ICD-10 Coding: New Character Surfaces in Spinal Fusion Codes

Are there “Zs” in your spinal fusion coding? The fiscal year (FY) 2019 ICD-10-PCS updated an area that has not received much attention: Spinal fusion codes. During the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting in September 2017, the topic of invalid spinal fusion codes was raised. There were spinal […]
3 Tips To Manage Claims Denials At ASCs

3 Tips To Manage Claims Denials At ASCs

Three experts on revenue cycle and operations at ASCs gathered at the Becker’s ASC 25th Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs conference in Chicago Oct. 19 to discuss how administrators can improve reimbursement per case at their facilities. Here are three pieces of advice they shared on how to avoid claims denials: Be […]
Are Medicare Advantage Plans Creating Excessive Denials

Are Medicare Advantage Plans Creating Excessive Denials?

MAs are taking advantage of excessive denials to reduce payments to providers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently found that between 2014 and 2016, a total of 75 percent of all appealed Medicare Advantage (MAs) denials were overturned, equivalent to roughly 216,000 denials a year. I […]
Clinical Documentation

Clinical Documentation Improvement Solutions Up Provider Revenue

Nearly all healthcare decision makers recently surveyed by KLAS said their organization saw financial gains after implementing a clinical documentation improvement solution. Provider organizations are seeing financial improvements after implementing clinical documentation improvement (CDI) solutions, a recent KLAS survey shows. Revenue improved for about 53 percent of healthcare executives, medical records directors and managers, and […]
CPT Code Set

AMA Releases 2019 CPT Code Set

There were many code revisions with guidelines, descriptions and instructional note changes.    There six new codes in the Evaluation and Management (E&M) section in CPT. Guidelines were revised for Interprofessional Telephone/Internet/Electronic Health Record Consultations. New codes 99451 and 99152 were added to report assessment and management services.  The codes are based on medical consultative […]