In a provider-based department, when an injection is provided by a registered nurse, is the admin fee billed on the hospital’s UB claim form with the drug or under global billed on the 1500?
This week’s Medicare updates include the April 2017 Update of the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System; the April 2017 Update of the Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System; an National Coverage Analysis for Supervised Exercise Therapy (SET) for Symptomatic Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD); and more!
As OPPS packaging has increased, providers may be less likely to appeal claims for certain denied charges based on medically unlikely edits, since it would not increase payments. However, providers should consider appeals when services are medically necessary and appropriate, as CMS bases future payment rates on accepted claims.
Accurate clinical documentation is the bedrock of the legal medical record, billing, and coding. It is also the most complex and vulnerable part of revenue cycle because independent providers must document according to intricate and sometimes vague rules.
HCCs are the basis for risk adjustments for reimbursement models like Medicare Advantage, accountable care organizations (ACO), and other value-based purchasing measures such as Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary. Poor understanding and application of HCCs mean that a hospital’s patients may be much sicker in reality than they appear to be on paper. And that will hit reimbursement hard.
Coders prepared for 2017 with numerous changes to the Official Coding Guidelines for the ICD-10-CM and the addition of many new codes. Quietly waiting in the wings was the updated CPT® Manual for 2017 with its changes waiting to be discovered.
