Now is the time to make sure you're ready to act quickly when you receive a letter from your RAC. You've likely not heard a peep from your RAC as they have been slow to send out demand letters (PBN 9/21/09). But experts have recommended you develop a RAC response team to respond to RAC letters and deadlines (PBN 3/9/09).

Take a look at hyperbaric oxygen chambers for wound therapy treatments at your practice - more and more of your peers are billing these services, a Part B News analysis shows. CMS allowed billing physician attendance and supervision of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (99183, $189.35) for lower extremity wounds in diabetics in 2003 (PBN 1/13/03). The volume of services billed has more than doubled since then - with 465,406 services in 2008, up from 212,258 in 2002.

Does your carrier have the right address for your practice? Verify your practice location with your carrier if you have any doubt the right address is on file. It could save you from having your billing privileges revoked when the carrier visits your on-file address to find that you're not there anymore. 

Sometime between now and Nov. 30, Medicare carriers will be sending solo doctors and non-physician practitioners (NPPs) some informational brochures. There's nothing newsworthy about the brochures, but here's the catch: when they go to an invalid address, the Medicare billing privileges for the provider tied to that address will be deactivated.

How would you feel about a three-year break from new diagnosis codes? That is just one option under consideration by the CMS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ease the burden leading into the Oct. 1, 2013, implementation of ICD-10-CM/PCS.

Region B's Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) has released targets for all seven states in its jurisdiction: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. The Oct. 14 release means all 50 states now have targets.

Download this month's tool, DecisionHealth Professional Services' E/M inpatient checklist, from the Part B News website, www.partbnews.com.

This week's question is answered by Margie Scalley Vaught, CPC, coding content specialist for DecisionHealth, publisher of Part B News.

Q. I am having trouble getting paid for post-procedure follow-up visits in the hospital. Medicare pays the initial consult and the follow-up(s) leading to the surgery or procedure. However, any follow-up after the procedure gets a denial. Is there any way to get these paid?

When you lose too many staff members because of the swine flu, you potentially face an unpleasant and rare situation: closing your practice.