You don’t have to prepare for and implement electronic health record (EHR) systems alone, as the example of Cambridge Pediatrics clearly shows. This chart shows how Cambridge secured help from four outside organizations, which ultimately all receive federal funding in one way or another, to help practices adopt EHRs and achieve meaningful use.

You and your peers may get four more options to avoid the 1% e-Prescribing (e-Rx) Medicare payment penalty if you qualify for one of CMS’s new proposed hardship exemptions outlined in its May 26 proposed rule. The proposed rule would give providers a more flexible timeline and more options to claim a hardship exemption for not being able to meet the e-Rx requirement by June 30.

You could be seeing less claim denials caused by referrals from providers who aren’t enrolled in Medicare – or interested in enrolling – thanks to a proposed new type of enrollment application, CMS announced May 20 in the Federal Register. The new enrollment form, called the CMS-855O, would enable providers who are not enrolled in Medicare and have no plans to enroll or bill to go through a streamlined enrollment process solely to generate an identification number.

Independent diagnostic testing facilities are on the hook for the new $505 enrollment fee that also affects durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers, according to the CMS transmittal.

How does the ratio of services done in inpatient versus outpatient settings vary by specialty, and how have these ratios been trending over the last few years? This chart examines the distribution of providers’ services by their specialty between the two big inpatient place of service (POS) codes 21 (inpatient hospital) and 23 (emergency room), and the two outpatient POS codes, 11 (office) and 22 (outpatient hospital).

If the reason for the EKG during the pre-operative exam is the fact that it IS required by the hospital or the physician performing the surgery what diagnosis code should we use for the EKG?