Part B News | Part B News

CMS retracts Open Payments data, gives providers until Sept. 8 to dispute

09/01/2014

You may not find information about payments that vendors and manufacturers made to your physicians on the Open Payments website when it goes live Sept. 30.

Patients unable to verify status at risk of losing ACA coverage Sept. 30

09/01/2014

by: Scott Kraft

Some of your patients with plans through the federal health insurance marketplace may be without coverage as of Sept. 30 if they are unable to verify inconsistencies in citizenship and immigration data.

Enrollment application timelines favor using Web-based PECOS application

09/01/2014

by: Scott Kraft

If you’re thinking about switching to Medicare’s online system to enroll new providers and revalidate or update provider enrollment instead of the traditional CMS-855 paper forms, here’s an extra incentive — your application may be processed faster when done online.

Watch for appropriate use of G modifiers as MACs increase attention

09/01/2014

by: Roy Edroso

Ensure your claims accurately portray the services your practice provided — even if you attach a G modifier because you don’t believe you’ll be paid for it. Auditors are paying new attention to those cases.

CMS issues dates for ICD-10 acknowledgment testing weeks

09/01/2014

CMS will allow acknowledgment testing at any time before the Oct. 1, 2015, ICD-10 deadline, but it instructed Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) to promote it during three specific weeks:

CMS hasn’t done enough to reduce duplicative post-payment audits

09/01/2014

by: Ben Hartman

Because most of the post-payment audits are conducted by RACs, CMS created a database to track RAC activities to prevent duplicative reviews, but the data is unreliable.

Psychologist unable to collect unemployment benefits after HIPAA breach

09/01/2014

by: Ben Hartman

A decision to deny unemployment benefits to a psychologist who lost a flash drive with protected health information (PHI) on it was upheld Aug. 4 by an appeals court.

MACs start fingerprint background checks

09/01/2014

by: Ben Hartman

MACs are requring “individuals with a 5% or greater ownership interest in a provider or supplier that falls into the high-risk category and is currently enrolled in Medicare or has submitted an enrollment application,” according to MLN Matters article SE1427 (PBN 6/30/14).

Denial rates on claims with G modifiers increase from 2010 to 2012

09/01/2014

Because modifiers GA, GX, GY and GZ involve claims on which the provider is anticipating denials, it may surprise you to learn that claims with those modifiers haven’t come near 100% denial rates in recent years.

Login

User Name:
Password:
Remember me Forgot password
Welcome to the new Part B News Online. If you are a returning user having trouble logging in, please click here.