Avoid becoming a high-billing practice suspected of inappropriate level 4 and level 5 selection by conducting thorough internal audits of your E/M services. If you have an electronic health records (EHR) system, your physicians are especially prone to improper E/M billing.

Cloned E/M notes on electronic health records (EHR) are one of the top reasons you could be over-billing for E/M levels 4 and 5, and they put you at risk of losing payments in a review. EHR experts see that as a frequent cause of inaccurate and medically inappropriate E/M visit notes created by doctors with good intentions. Even worse, the vendors will frequently promote cloned notes as a product benefit.

Your providers’ $18,000 meaningful use bonuses could be at risk, even if you’ve conducted a security risk analysis (SRA) to comply with HIPAA. While you’re already required to follow security standards for electronic health information, an SRA asks providers to implement security updates and correct security deficiencies as needed.

A final rule implementing new penalties of up to $1.5 million per HIPAA violation could be issued as early as this month, so evaluate how well your practice keeps patient records safe from privacy and security breaches to protect your revenue.

Is there an ICD-9 code to replace code 518.5(Pulmonary insufficiency following trauma and surgery) that was deleted in September 2011?

This chart depicts the percentage of physicians within the selected specialties who e-prescribed in 2011. The data are based on an analysis of nearly 315,000 office-based physicians conducted by Surescripts, an Arlington, Va.-based company that provides e-prescribing services to the health care industry.