A new collaboration between the AMA and UnitedHealthcare will work to address the social and environmental factors that affect patients’ health by standardizing data collection on their social determinants of health (SDOH) to help address individuals’ unique needs that often go unmet. The two organizations are supporting the creation of 23 new ICD-10 codes related […]
GET OUT YOUR 2019 CPT® CODE BOOKS. YOU HAVE SOME CODE CHANGES TO MAKE. Effective July 1, 2019, the American Medical Association (AMA) is adding 21 new lab codes and deleting one in Appendix O, Multianalyte Assays with Algorithmic Analyses and Proprietary Laboratory Analyses. Deleted 0057U Oncology (solid organ neoplasia), mRNA, gene expression profiling by […]
The U.S. healthcare industry has a $1 trillion opportunity to cut costs and reduce waste, according to a 2015 Harvard Business Review analysis. While there are various areas waste accumulates, costly data reconciliation is a prominent problem for hospitals and health systems. Change Healthcare defines data reconciliation as “the process of compiling information across companies […]
America’s Health Insurance Plans called on Congress to set a fixed reimbursement rate based on what insurers pay in a region. Providers are pushing back against an insurer proposal for legislation to set reimbursement rates to avoid surprise medical bills. In a letter to Senate and House leaders this week, America’s Health Insurance Plans and 16 other […]
The new codes include drugs for migraines, to initiate blood-clotting in patients on certain coagulants, chronic and hairy cell leukemia, and folic acid for chemotherapy patients. The home health codes help facilitate the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Pioneer ACO initiative. New HCPCS Level II Codes […]
In October 2015, physicians across the United States transitioned from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Ninth Revision to the tenth revision (ICD-10-CM, the US version of the World Health Organization [WHO] ICD-10). Although the ICD-10-CM was a new concept for physicians in the United States, the international variant has been available since […]
Value based payment models are undoubtedly the future of health care. The number of commercial and governmental ACO contracts alone increased by an average of 63% annually from Q1 2011 to Q1 2018, according to a Muhlestein et al. analysis of Leavitt Partners’ data. Though commercial payers have been slower to adopt other models that […]
Data security is now one of the top aspects of healthcare technology. It can make or break patient satisfaction and institutional reputation. Healthcare providers have a professional obligation not only to care for their patients’ health but also to protect their patients’ data. Cyber crime is on the rise against the sector because healthcare providers […]
A summary of the CPT® Editorial Panel’s actions during its February 2019 meeting offers us a glimpse of changes to come for the CPT 2020 and 2021. Perhaps the biggest news are approved revisions to office and outpatient E/M codes 99201-99215, scheduled for 2021 implementation, covered here. Other Approved Changes For 2021 Include: Significant revision to […]
Most industries embrace the motto “the customer is king.” They are acutely aware their success is driven by it. While the complexity of the healthcare business model has made it challenging for provider organizations to adopt such an ethos, the recent rise of consumerism in the industry necessitates that providers prioritize the patient experience if […]