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03/30/2009

This graph shows denial rates for four high-utilization peripheral vascular catheter placement codes billed to Medicare from 2005 to 2007. The overall trend is uneven - 36200 and 36245 trended upwards in 2007, after a slight decline from 2005 to 2006.

03/30/2009

Cutting back on denials for vascular catheter procedures may require a heart-to-heart between physicians and billers.

03/30/2009

Attendees at the HIT forum sponsored by IBM and eHealth Initiative. Photo by Lia Davis of IBMThe $19 billion in health information technology (HIT) incentives found in the latest economic stimulus bill has wide-support in the medical community, but physicians still want to get more out of their electronic medical record (EMR) systems. Physicians attending a HIT forum sponsored by eHealth Initiative and IBM March 20 said EMR systems need to be more "patient-centered" and allow for an information exchange with other systems to improve quality at the point of care.

03/30/2009

A Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) measure for radiology erroneously contains 22 CPT codes that don't apply to the measure. A senior level CMS official tells Part B News that the agency is not responsible for the error, but is determined to make sure providers will not be adversely affected.

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