Monthly Archives: August 2013

Is your practice utilizing the Advanced Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage (ABN) correctly?

The Advanced Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage, or ABN for short, is a waiver of liability that is provided to all Medicare patients if the provider believes an item/service may not be covered by Medicare or considered medically necessary. Now that … Read Full Post

Tagged abn, advanced beneficiary notice of noncoverage, center for medicare and medicaid services, coding & billing, medicare billing, medicare patients, submitting a claim |

Employee Relations: Lay the foundation for a good business!

A good work environment is the foundation of a solid and effective employee-relations program. Employee relations focuses on communication as it relates to satisfactory productivity, motivation, morale and the prevention and resolution of problems that arise or affect work situations. … Read Full Post

Tagged employee morale, employee relations, employee-relations environment, health care organizations, home health agencies, human resources, improving company morale, job performance, job responsibilities, leadership, performance evaluations, practice management |

What We’re Reading – Bilateral procedures and MUEs

Are you stumped on when to use modifier 50 instead of modifiers LT and/or RT for Medicare? Modifier 50 is defined as a bilateral procedure which is performed on both sides of the body in the same operative session or … Read Full Post

Tagged bilateral procedure, center for medicare and medicaid services, coding and billing, cpt codes, first coast service options, medicare billing, medicare guidelines, medicare physician fee schedule, modifier 50, modifier lt, modifier rt |

What We’re Reading – Manual update regarding the repayment of overpayments

If your business has ever received a demand letter from Medicare regarding overpayments, your first thought has probably been, “How am I going to pay this back while keeping my business afloat?” There is good news! Effective September 3, 2013, … Read Full Post

Tagged center for medicare and medicaid services, cms manual, coding & billing, extended repayment plan, extended repayment schedule, first coast service options, medicare overpayments, overpayment for medicare claims, recovery audit contractors |

Professional Association involvement: It’s not just for “newbies”

Students and early careerists often ask about the most important contributor to career success. The answer never lends itself to just one factor, but usually to a list of the top three, which includes professional organization involvement. In addition, this … Read Full Post

Tagged ache, american college of healthcare executives, career development, current trends in healthcare, educational advantages, health information management and systems society, healthcare financial management association, hfma, himss, home health agencies, medical group management association, mgma, networking, organization involvement, practice management, professional associations, professional organization involvement, professional organizations, social networks |

What We’re Reading – Preventing duplicate claim denials

Are you experiencing more claims denials as duplicates recently? Make sure that your billing staff and/or billing company are aware that effective July 1, 2013, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) instituted new claim edits. All claims received … Read Full Post

Tagged center for medicare and medicaid services, claim denials, claim edits, duplicate claim denials, duplicate claims, medicare claims, modifiers, preventing duplicate claim denials |

Differences & Similarities between Home Health Agencies and Nurse Registries – Part 3

Welcome to the third part of our series about the differences between home health agencies and nurse registries. In this installment, we’ll review the last criterion from our list: one qualifying service by direct employee. Medicare requires that a home … Read Full Post

Tagged accrediting organizations, achc, direct employee service, home health agencies, home health agency vs. nurse registry, independent contractors, medicare, medicare certified home health agency, medicare condition of participaton, nurse registries, skilled nursing services, therapeutic services |