Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

PHYSICIAN NOTES:

CMS Spells Out How You Should Calculate Medicare Payment Amounts

Published on Fri Jan 08, 2010

PDF

Plus: Unless you have a formal waiver in place, it's time to stop using the DR condition code and CR modifier on your H1N1 claims.

Conversion factor calculations can be difficult enough during a normal year -- but in 2010, with the conversion factor changing back and forth, it can be downright frustrating. A new Medicare document aims to quell those frustrations with a new educational tool.

CMS is offering a revised Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Fact Sheet, which includes information on how to determine your Medicare payments, how to translate the Fee Schedule payment rates, what the GPCI means, and how the conversion factor affects your income.

Plus, the document discusses the two month zero percent update to the 2010 Fee Schedule that's effective through Feb. 28.

You can download the Fact Sheet at www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/MedcrePhysFeeSchedfctsht.pdf.

Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

PART B MYTHBUSTER:
OIG Requests $40+ Million More Funds to Beef Up Fraud Detection
Ratchet up your documentation skills now. The OIG has been on a roll over the [...]

ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS:
EHRs Can Earn You $44,000
You can collect incentive payments by participating with either Medicare or Medicaid -- not both. CMS [...]

PART B REVENUE BOOSTER:
Want to Code Your E/M Based on Time? Counseling/Coordination of Care Must Dominate Visit
Tighten up your documentation before you code based on time spent with patient. Time can [...]

E/M CODING:
CMS 'Very, Very Close' to Issuing More Guidance on Consult Code Replacement Codes
Plus: You can now download a list of all practitioners who can order/refer. If you've [...]

READER QUESTION:
Halt Confusion Between Modifiers 25 And 59 With These Quick Tips
Equate modifier 25 with significant and separately identifiable E/M service, and append it to the [...]

PART B CODING COACH:
Coding Quiz: Pick the Right Diagnosis Code for Postmenopausal Abnormalities
Do N95.0 and N95.2 look foreign? Get your ob-gyn ICD-10 equivalents now. Spare yourself denial [...]

PHYSICIAN NOTES:
CMS Spells Out How You Should Calculate Medicare Payment Amounts
Plus: Unless you have a formal waiver in place, it's time to stop using the [...]

In other news ...
• You may have gotten used to treating H1N1 cases at your office , but [...]

View All