Part B News | Part B News

Keep inpatient/observation E/M claims consistent on hospital visits or risk denials

07/27/2015

A patient was admitted to the hospital and died the same day. The hospitalist billed 99236; the cardiologist billed 99222. The cardiologist got paid, but hospitalist didn't. Why?

Gastro, radiology centers see cuts; labs, pathology see jumps in proposed pay

07/27/2015

by: Karen Long

See the impacts of reimbursement changes in the proposed 2016 Medicare physician fee schedule by selected specialties.

Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement areas

07/27/2015

The following are the proposed areas included in the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model for hospitals:

CMS’ incident-to plan: Bill under NPI of provider who supervises not initiates care

07/20/2015

by: Julia Kyles and Roy Edroso

Practices that rely on non-physician practitioners (NPPs) and auxiliary medical staff to stretch their revenue may have to adapt to new processes if CMS goes through with proposed incident-to changes. The agency intends to tie billing to the supervising provider for incident-to services.

Learn laws, improve conversation skills to bill proposed advance care codes

07/20/2015

by: Roy Edroso with additional reporting by Richard Scott

Brush up on the legal requirements for end-of-life discussions and focus on your bedside manner to capture a proposed new payment of an estimated $86 for 30 minutes of advanced care planning work.

CMS proposes unequal phase-in of big RVU reductions over two years

07/20/2015

by: Scott Kraft

If a service you perform is facing a relative value unit (RVU) reduction of 20% or more, you could see most of the pain in the first year.

PQRS requirements will stay the same but expect measures to change

07/20/2015

by: Julia Kyles

Providers who were caught off guard by this year’s tougher quality reporting standards should start thinking about their 2016 action plans now. Medicare will not add to the requirements for such methods as individual claims-based or registry reporting, but it does intend to revise the list of individual measures and measures groups that will be available next year, according to the 2016 proposed Medicare physician fee schedule.

Value payment calculations could hit every practice with at least one doctor

07/20/2015

by: Julia Kyles

Study the quality resource use reports on your practice’s 2014 quality performance effort to make sure your providers avoid mistakes in 2016 that would subject them to the value-based payment modifier pay cut.

Some practices will get a break from the value payment modifier thanks to MIPS

07/20/2015

by: Julia Kyles

Practices with only non-physician practitioners (NPPs) will have more time – up to five years – to get quality reporting right to avoid the value-based pay cut, if CMS goes through with its proposed plan for 2016.

CMS issues guidance to align meaningful use, PQRS electronic reporting

07/20/2015

by: Richard Scott

You would be able to avoid snags when electronically submitting meaningful use and Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) data under Medicare’s proposed rule that seeks to standardize submissions through your electronic health record (EHR).

Login

User Name:
Password:
Remember me Forgot password
Welcome to the new Part B News Online. If you are a returning user having trouble logging in, please click here.