You must contact CMS if you want to know whether your hardship exemption to avoid the 1% e-Prescribing (e-Rx) payment penalty was granted, Part B News has learned. After you submit the exemption, CMS won’t give you a response either way; unless it needs additional documentation to make a decision, a CMS official tells Part B News.

Many practices have been switching banks as the economic slump drags on and some banks impose new and higher fees, combined with tighter standards for loans and lines of credit. But to switch to a new bank without disrupting cash flow, you must plan for a four to six-month process that involves having two accounts open and juggling payer paperwork, experts say.

You must be ready with advanced beneficiary notice of non-coverage (ABN) forms when facing services that Medicare will only cover with the right diagnosis code, and statutorily reject in all other situations. Here are five expert tips on how to recognize and prevent potentially non-covered services and avoid ABN overuse.

You and your peers earned more E/M revenue in 2010 than 2009, even though 2010 was the first year consult codes were eliminated. These charts show E/M revenue and utilization based on CMS claims data. For the top 10 E/M-billing specialties, 2010 was a year that saw positive E/M growth, with the exception of general surgery and ophthalmology.

These charts examine E/M code level selection for new and established visits (99201-99215) from 2009 to 2010, comparing primary care and specialists. Both primary care and the top E/M-billing specialists show a clear shift from lower-level E/Ms to higher level E/Ms. However, the shift for specialists is much sharper, driven by CMS eliminating consult code codes in 2010, which is a huge E/M change.

We have recently received a notification that CMS is going to do a “prepayment edit” of advanced imaging services because the Comprehensive Error Rate Testing program (CERT) data has identified a high error rate and that the X-ray orders must be signed by the treating physician. However, it is our understanding that X-ray studies do not need a signature and that the medical record alone could support ordering the test. Which is it?