AHA Responds to Medicare Outpatient Payment Updates for CY 2023

When commenting on the Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System proposed rule for calendar year (CY) 2023, the American Hospital Association (AHA)…

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Splitting Hairs: “Incident to” or Shared Visit

CMS has specific guidelines when defining “incident to” and shared visits. Recently, I was working with a client to help them understand “incident to” billing. We were discussing a situation…

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Is Your CDI Program Putting You in the Danger Zone?

Time for CDI checkup. Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) programs may be exposing hospitals to unnecessary, costly compliance risks and financial exposure by virtue of their very nature and purpose. When…

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How Hospitals, EDs Effectively Code Social Determinants of Health

In 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance to emphasize the importance of social, economic, and environmental factors that can affect the health outcomes of disadvantaged…

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How Health Systems Improve Patient Collections

The rising cost of healthcare in the United States has left consumers feeling lost and overwhelmed. High deductible healthcare plans, co-pays, and out-of-pocket medical expenses have all contributed the emergence…

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CMS Releases 331 New PCS ICD-10 Codes

New codes and guidelines become effective Oct. 1, 2023. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the ICD-10-PCS codes and guidelines for the 2023 fiscal year on May…

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Why You Should Be Using The Two-Midnight Rule

Are you using something other than two-midnight? Here’s why you shouldn’t be. Is there the possibility that your utilization management team and physician advisors are applying InterQual, MCG, or any…

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Behavioral Health: To Screen or not To Screen?

How to stay compliant in behavioral health screenings. Behavioral health screenings aim to detect mental health symptoms in many seemingly healthy people. This can be done in various ways, including…

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How to Get a Medical Billing and Coding Job Promotion

Medical billing and coding is one of the hottest medical professions in great demand with a great deal of job opportunities and rooms for promotion. Promotion will come with increment…

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Readmissions and How They Affect Payments

Some flareups may lead to readmissions within 30 days. We can all agree that we want to fully treat our patients’ acute problems that require inpatient hospitalization, allowing them a…

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Preventive Medicine Versus E&M Codes: The Same-Day Coding Dilemma

Choosing a proper office visit code can become confusing unless one understands the rules separating preventive medicine and evaluation and management (E&M) coding. Problem-oriented E&M services, office, and other outpatient…

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Top Ways to Reduce Medical Billing Errors

You might know that medical billing is a challenging process. That’s the reason why many people make several mistakes in this case. If you have the same problem, you can…

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