This chart shows the 10 specialties with the greatest increase in Medicare-participating physicians from 2006 to 2008 and compares the changes in Medicare denial rates over the same three-year period.

Once again: Delete or dispose of Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) Authorization Agreement forms on your computer or in your office. CMS has again updated the CMS-588 form you used for EFT authorization.

Codes recommended by CMS for RUC review

You now face restrictions on separate billing of facet joint injections and telehealth visits alongside a wide array of surgery codes, according to a Part B News analysis of the latest version of the Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) edits, which took effect July 1. There are 16,928 changes, almost all of which are new edit pairs. For comparison, that's eight times the number of changes in the previous CCI version, which had just 2,195 changes (PBN 3/29/10).

Congress finally passed a Medicare payment patch to delay the devastating 21.3% cut to your reimbursements for six months and replace it with a 2.2% increase retroactive to June 1. CMS has yet to announce how it will reprocess your June claims paid at a reduced rate, but the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) says you will not need to collect any additional amounts from patients who received care from you between June 1 and June 25, which is the date the pay fix was signed into law.

Your claims will not be automatically rejected on July 6 when they contain orders or referrals from providers not properly enrolled in CMS's Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS), the agency announced June 30.

The proposed 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) is pulling double-duty, packed with expansions of existing CMS initiatives plus major Medicare changes mandated by the health reform law. The law's emphasis on preventive medicine is taking the form of major benefits for primary care, starting with a new, routine service billable once a year for all beneficiaries, free of copays and deductibles, plus new coverage for more than 30 preventive services.