This chart reflects how your peers wish to incorporate electronic health records (EHR) by breaking down the exact types of information they want to share with other medical offices electronically but currently share via paper, phone or fax.

How do you report an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) performed by both a neurosurgeon and orthopedic surgeon, even though they weren’t co-surgeons but simply did their respective portion of the procedure? Do you report 22551-22562 (arthrodesis procedure codes set)?

Struggling to collect from patients with high deductible health plans (HDHPs)? This tool gives you multi-faceted bullet points on how to develop a workflow process to improve collections from both new and existing patients.

Your providers are safe from the impending 27.4% cut to their Medicare payments set to hit March 1 thanks to Congress passing a temporary ‘doc fix’ Feb. 17 through the end of 2012.

Important: Congress originally approved a two-month fix that was set to expire Feb. 29 that will now last through Dec. 31. President Obama hadn’t yet signed the bill extension into law as this issue went to press.

Any plans you may have to begin transitioning to ICD-10 should now be put on hold in light of last week’s announcement that HHS intends to delay the ICD-10 implementation date beyond Oct. 1, 2013, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) instructs.

You and your peers have been either slowly getting your Medicare payments or not getting them at all since the industry switch to HIPAA 5010 on Jan. 1. While it’s been confirmed that your payments are in a virtual limbo between clearinghouses and payers, there are numerous reasons why your claims are getting “lost.”

You must have a clear plan of action before you drop a payer after a bout of bad contract negotiations. There are key preparatory steps you must take to ensure your practice can thrive after the split, experts tell Part B News.

Carefully and cautiously bill consult codes to private payers and Medicare Advantage plans so you’ll reap the benefits of increased revenue and avoid denials. Remember: While a growing number of private payers have also eliminated consults, many still allow and pay for consult codes.

CMS hasn’t forgotten about it’s promise to update the Provider Enrollment Chain Ownership System (PECOS) website with a user-friendly “fast-track” feature (PBN 9/26/11). The feature is now available on the PECOS website.

This chart examines how practices incorporate patient satisfaction survey results into their workflow. The data, which comes from the Medical Group Management Association’s (MGMA) Performances and Practices of Successful Medical Groups: 2011 Report based on 2010 data, measures the utilization rates of 11 different options a practice has in using its patient satisfaction results.