Doctors must consider the implications of altering a patient’s status. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is suggesting novel retrospective and prospective appeal procedures in compliance with a federal district court order from the District of Connecticut. On December 21, the agency unveiled a proposed rule aiming to institute an appeal mechanism for […]
Depending on the clauses, contracts can be your worst enemy or your savior. Today I pose a very important question to you. Do your participation contracts that you sign with Medicare/Medicaid, managed care organizations (MCOs), and Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) – do they even matter? Are these boilerplate contracts worth the ink and the paper […]
CMS is temporarily holding claims from providers in anticipation of legislation that will extend the suspension of the 2 percent Medicare sequester, according to a recent newsletter. The MLN Connects newsletter from March 30 stated that CMS has “instructed the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to hold all claims with dates of service on or after April […]
January 1, 2020, marks the start of the Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) program educational and operations testing period, at which time Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) will begin accepting AUC-related modifiers on claims for advanced diagnostic imaging services furnished to Medicare Part B patients. The voluntary participation period ends December 31, 2019. Know AUC Program Requirements […]
The CPT® codes that are considered a laboratory test under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) change each year, as well as throughout the year, making it difficult for healthcare providers and laboratories to keep up. Here are the CPT codes for 2019 that are subject to or excluded from CLIA edits in easy-to-look up […]
There is a new version of the CMS-855I Medicare Enrollment Application, which physicians and non-physician practitioners may begin using immediately. Medicare Administrative Contractors will accept the previous version of the application (7/2011) through April 30, and then require you to use the new version (12/18). What’s Changed? The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has made the […]