Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Here's a clarification straight from Medicare. Practices that are panicking over Medicare's 30-day retrospective billing regulation may find a reason to exhale with a new Medicare clarification. Effective this year, you'll be able to retroactively bill Medicare for services your physician rendered up to 30 days prior to the date of filing a Medicare enrollment application that a Medicare contractor subsequently approves. Jim Bossenmeyer of CMS' office of financial management said during a Jan. 13 CMS open door forum that the effective date of billing is the later of either the date of filing or the date the physician first starts to practice at the location. However, many practices needed further information on the new directive. For instance, Sylvia Cohn of Hill Medical Coding in Pittsburgh wrote, "After I read about the change to 30-day retrospective billing, I called my carrier and they said they are not implementing that rule. [...]