The Devil’s in the Details of Two New Proposed Rules

More than 700 pages of text make up proposed changes to the federal Stark and anti-kickback statutes. On Wednesday, Oct. 9, federal healthcare officials announced two new proposed rules.  While…

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3 Coding Compliance Strategies to Improve Reimbursement, Quality

Medical coders are typically behind the scenes of patient care, analyzing records, selecting codes for billing, and managing patient data. But to Jannifer Owens, a revenue cycle expert with over…

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Coding Corner: Important differences between ICD-10 Excludes1 and Excludes2 notes

PR’s “Coding Corner” focuses on coding, compliance, and documentation issues relating specifically to physician billing. This month’s tip comes from Deborah Marsh, senior content specialist for AAPC, a training and credentialing…

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E/M coding changes

A “bold proposal” to reduce the documentation burden on physicians was released as part of CMS’s 2019 proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). This seemed to have begun as an…

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Looming medical billing and coding changes in healthcare policy

A change in government payment policy for dermatologists and other physicians in selecting office coding and billing for evaluation and management (E/M) is scheduled to begin January 2021. “The Centers…

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Hospitals support medical billing changes, opioid payments

Hospitals support the CMS' proposed changes to medical billing coding and new payments for opioid treatment programs, but they're worried that changes to quality measures could hurt providers. Major medical…

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AHA Urges CMS to Abolish Site-Neutral, 340B Payment Cuts in OPPS

The American Hospital Association (AHA) questioned the legality of site-neutral and 340B payment policies in the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS), arguing the proposals would “have a chilling effect on…

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Medicare Retires G Codes for Mammograms

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Make sure your practice’s medical coding for preventive screening mammograms is up to date with current guidelines. Coding Mammograms for Medicare The Centers for…

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The Vaping Epidemic Worsens

Confusion persists for the coding of vaping. The issue of vaping continues to generate national and international headlines. On Sept. 18, a teen from London, Ontario in Canada suffered a…

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Noridian’s Use of Scenarios Questioned

Noridian uses scenarios for the parenteral administration of iron in non-dialysis patients. The Noridian iron infusion Local Coverage Determination (LCD) is important for just about everyone since Noridian is the…

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