Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert
AWP Cuts, Redistribution Not Dead Yet
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Rural physicians can cling to hope of relief on Medicare payment levels, while oncologists and equipment suppliers can gird for another battle around the corner. With the president's support and strong backing in Congress, "I'm encouraged that we'll succeed before the end of the summer," Grassley said. Providers had better hope that Grassley's amendment undergoes some amendment of its own before it comes up for a vote. It definitely creates winners and losers in the Medicare program.
"I am very disappointed that my amendment, which had 86 votes in the Senate, addressing Medicare rural equity was not included in this agreement," Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) told the conference committee May 22. "President Bush also weighed in strongly supporting my efforts in the context of a Medicare bill," he said. That bill will come up for consideration in early June, he added.
Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert
- POLITICS & POLICY:
Senate Rural Health Plan Goes Back To The Barn
A U.S. Senate amendment to the Republican tax bill that would have boosted payments to [...] - REIMBURSEMENT:
Rural Reforms Snard in Medicare Reform Tangle
Now that the U.S. House of Representatives has shot down Sen. Charles Grassley's (R-Iowa) provision [...] - Providers Still Working on SGR Fix
Providers continue to work on Capitol Hill to win reform of the formula Medicare uses [...] - Appeals:
Avoid Appeals Doldrums With Documentation
Cash-strapped carriers may begin pushing your appeals to the bottom of their in-boxes unless you [...] - RVUS:
CMS Slashes More Than a Dozen Codes
CMS giveth, and CMS taketh away.
At the start of 2003, [...] - COMPLIANCE PERSPECTIVES:
Docs' Coding Savvu Can Boost Reimbursement, Enhance Compliance
Many physicians are loathe to add coding knowledge to their repertoire, but biting the coding [...] - Understand Modifiers for Non-Covered Services
Want to bill Medicare for a service you're sure it's going to deny? You still [...] - COVERAGE:
National Coverage Policies Should Rule, Report Says
Confused by your carrier's local coverage policies? If the General Accounting Office gets its way, [...] - LOCAL COVERAGE POLICIES:
CIGNA Policies Limit Sinus Endoscopy
In Tennessee, Cigna Healthcare unveiled two new draft local medical review policies with comments due [...] - REIMBURSEMENT:
When You Take Extra Time, Make It Count
If your physician is spending more than the usual amount of time with a patient, [...] - ABNs:
Game of Musical Diagnoses Leaves Patient Without Chair
A signed advance beneficiary notice gives you the right to tell a patient, "I told [...] - LUNG-VOLUME REDUCTION:
Study Suggests Who Gains From Disputed Surgery
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services opened a national coverage determination process on lung-volume [...] - MEDICARE REFORM:
AWP Cuts, Redistribution Not Dead Yet
Rural physicians can cling to hope of relief on Medicare payment levels, while oncologists and [...] - MEDICARE REFORM:
Grassley Provisions Unpopular With Many
The cancer community, including patient advocacy groups, oncologists, oncology nurses and others, continues to advocate [...] - PHYSICIAN NOTES:
Carriers Tout Safeguard Hauls
Medicare carriers are boasting once again about the financial fallout from their medical review, fraud-fighting [...] - CHART:
Prolonged Services
Documentation of physician time is critical to charge for prolonged services (CPT 99354 [...]