Three tips are all you need to correctly bill allergen immunotherapy, single or multiple antigens. Allergy services, such as those reported with CPT® 95165 Professional services for the supervision of preparation and provision of antigens for allergen immunotherapy, single or multiple antigens (specify number of doses), remain on the radar of third-party payer investigation units […]
What to do when the pathology doesn’t correlate to the service provided. The rules for cutaneous (skin) excision coding are straightforward: When the pathology for a lesion is benign, code for excision of benign lesion, 11400-11446; and when the pathology for a lesion is malignant, code for excision of malignant lesion, 11600-11646. But in […]
What you need to know to avoid claim denials and to maximize practice revenue Despite your best efforts to follow billing guidelines, payers still deny your claims. Or in some cases, they pay you and then take the money back. Experts say you can’t ever eliminate denials and post-payment recoupment entirely, but you can reduce […]
During a typical office visit, physicians may provide evaluation and management (E/M) services, minor procedures and more. The question is: Can they bill for each one separately? In some cases, the answer is no. In others, though, the answer is yes — but they must know what current procedural terminology (CPT) modifier to append. Modifiers […]
The final rules for fiscal year 2023 include a 3.8 percent payment increase for hospice providers, 2.5 percent increase for inpatient psychiatric facilities, and 3.2 percent boost for inpatient rehabilitation facilities. CMS has released final rules solidifying Medicare reimbursement rates for hospice providers, inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs), and inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) for fiscal year […]
When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) as the new reimbursement method for skilled nursing facilities (SNF), some of us in the coding and auditing world thought it likely to result in inaccurate payments. The old model, the Resource Utilization Group—Version IV (RUGS-IV), calculated SNF reimbursement […]
The home- and community-based services quality measure set also aims to advance health equity and reduce health disparities for older adults and people with disabilities. CMS has released a quality measure set for home- and community-based services (HCBS), aiming to promote consistent quality measurement and data collection in the Medicaid HCBS program and improve health […]
Documenting a diagnosis in the health record extends beyond its impact on reimbursement and quality-of-care measures. It is also critical to patient safety. One of the more challenging aspects of the work as CDI professionals is physician engagement, which is why connecting the work to the patient level is so important. Many providers don’t want […]
Of the 12 states that have not expanded their Medicaid programs, four have taken legal, legislative, and/or budgetary actions this year with varying results. The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has updated its state Medicaid expansion tracker, highlighting 2022 activity through July. The following summarizes activity in both expansion and non-expansion states. In January 2022, Georgia […]
Can you survive an OIG Audit? When the Public Health Emergency (PHE) was extended for the 10th time on July 15, 2022, continuing the PHE through October 13, 2022, so were many waivers under the 1135 CARES Act of March 20, 2020. However, if you are not keeping up with the commercial payers and the […]