Your RAC is currently allowed to look back only three years and carriers by law may look back four years. But when the mistakes they uncover lead to fraud suspicions, other CMS contractors gain the right to look back much further into your claims filing history, Part B News has learned.

This week's question is answered by John Burns CPC, senior consultant for DecisionHealth Professional Services.

Q. Can we bill for diabetic self-management training (DSMT) while we're in the process of being accredited?

CMS will have final authority over whether your carrier can accept your settlement offer, but here are several effective arguments you can make to boost your chances, according to attorneys familiar with the process.

A recent Part B News article stated you won't be reimbursed for copying records to fulfill a RAC request (PBN 8/24/09). CMS's Commander Marie Casey, RN, of the Division of Recovery Operations, has stated money to reimburse providers billing the Physician Fee Schedule has already been factored in payments for services - and, your RAC won't provide you with any reimbursement for reproducing records.

Instead of scrambling to get an electronic health record installed and up to speed by January 2011, take a deep breath, relax and plot out the strategy that works best for you and your practice. It looks like you'll have time.

Your physicians are not as technophobic as some would have you believe. They just want technology that's easy to use, saves them time, and, above all, enhances their ability to practice medicine. Electronic health records don't always do that. Smartphones, for the most part, do.

TransforMed, a subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians, believes it's the first professional social networking site intended for primary care physicians and all their clinical and office staff.

A sampling of opinions about meaningful use of electronic health records from key physician groups.

Many of your peers are rallying against plans to eliminate consult billing. Various specialists, from allergists to rheumatologists, are lobbying to prevent CMS from going through with the rule change in the proposed 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PBN 7/13/09), according to a review of about 1,000 public comments.

Applying fees to copying records for patients, insurance companies and lawyers will help you offset the cost of toner cartridges, paper and, most importantly, staff time. But don't pick prices out of the air - check your state's law to help set your fees.