The stress of first quarter collections does not have to fall entirely on your shoulders. Contract with a third party credit card processing company that will set up financially strapped patients on a payment plan, and increase your cashflow. Bonus: This automatic outsourced system will save you and your patients time.

More evidence that careless electronic health records (EHR) implementation could lead to denials: A recent Trailblazer Health Enterprises probe review revealed a 40% error rate for new patient Evaluation and Management (E/M) visit documentation, a trend the Dallas-based carrier’s medical director attributes in large part to faulty EHR systems.

In addition to the five scenarios that are holding up provider payments (see related story), the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) released its letter Feb. 1 to HHS outlining a dozen 5010 transition issues that are clogging claims processing. TIP: You can see MGMA’s full letter to HHS at: www.mgma.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=1369699. 

Can a physician who performs electrocardiograms (EKG) in his or her practice bill the service as part of medical decision-making? Example: One point for ordering the test plus two points for independent visualization to equal three points. Is this considered “double-dipping”?

The Super Committee's abject failure to compile a plan that reduces spending by $1.2 trillion over 10 years was no surprise. But now, some healthcare leaders are looking with dread at the "sequester," a process by which hospitals and physicians will see automatic Medicare reimbursement cuts of 2% starting in 2013 through 2021.