You will see a strong emphasis on electronic health record (EHR) systems in 2011, when practices with EHRs can begin demonstrating meaningful use for the first round of federal bonus payments, experts and practice managers predict. Medicare provisions in the reform law will also play a major role, boosting revenue for primary care practices, they say.

CMS has set the 2011 conversion factor at $33.9764. The conversion factor was initially set at $25.5217 in the 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, but was later increased just before Jan. 1 as a result of congressional action in December to stave off cuts to Medicare payment rates.

You have 24 new additions to CMS’s Average Sales Price (ASP) list to start 2011. You’ll also find prices under the ASP plus 6% payment system for the first quarter of the year increased by 0.7% on average, which is the second consecutive increase (PBN 9/27/10).

Your claims won’t be rejected because of enrollment issues with an ordering/referring provider starting Jan. 3 (PBN 11/15/10). CMS has officially backed off the deadline, but has not backed away from the policy.

Do all practices in a given specialty collect around the same amount of money for physician work? This chart shows the annual amount of money collected for professional charges (excluding technical component and amounts collected from work by non-physician practitioners or NPPs).

Colonoscopies and EGD's carry a [zero-day] global period as they are deemed endoscopic procedures. My question is can the physician charge an E/M code if he schedules the procedure and sees the patient all on the same day? Or is the pre-op visit/H&P included in the procedure code?