Before shopping for a price estimator tool to collect payments upfront for some or the entirety of all eventual services, consider developing a calculation system in house or using a payer’s free service. For some practices, the front-end labor will justify itself in savings, increased collections and reduced accounts receivable days.

Some practices seeing revenue slow because of HIPAA 5010 problems and high-deductible patients to start 2012 have found relief working with their banks to build or expand lines of credit or access business loans. One practice used $15,000 of its line of credit, which it doubled to $60,000 in anticipation of payment delays. “For once, my cynicism paid off,” he says.

Have you heard this before: It takes me forever to find the information I’m looking for in an electronic health record (EHR) note because of pages of unnecessary language automatically generated by the software? Even the physicians’ workaround to look for the visit note’s last paragraph for essential information doesn’t work with some EHRs that don’t create encounter notes with such automatic prioritization. 

The online discount craze perpetrated by websites such as Groupon and Living Social may help you attract new patients and fortify your bottom line, but your potential exposure to anti-kickback violations might not be worth the risk, experts say. The Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners tackled the online coupon issue during a meeting in July and created its own administrative rule to prohibit chiropractors from engaging in fee-splitting arrangements with sites such as Groupon.

This chart depicts the most common factors preventing your peers from sharing more patient information electronically with other health care offices. Note: The data is based on results of the 2012 Healthcare Provider Survey: Key Findings on Revenue Cycle Management, Audits and Automation, compiled by IVANS in Stamford, Conn. The chart reflects 709 responses to a January 2012 web-based survey of almost entirely business/administrative managers at various health care offices, including private medical practices, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, home health agencies and billing companies. For a free executive summary of the report, email your request to Cecile Locurto at Cecile.locurto@ivans.com.

If a neurosurgeon explores spinal fusion during surgery, can the exploration be coded on the same level as the primary surgery being performed? What if the surgeon explores different levels? Can those be coded as long as the documentation states what was explored and the correct modifier is appended?

TrailBlazer Health Enterprises lost its CMS contract to Highmark Medicare Services on March 1. CMS denied Trailblazer’s petition March 1 and is moving forward with the merging of Jurisdiction 4 into Jurisdiction JH, which will be all Highmark’s territory, according to the U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) report on TrailBlazer’s petition of the change.

This month's tool is a ready-to-use encounter form for your annual wellness visits tailored specifically for patients receiving their subsequent visit of this preventive service CMS initiated in 2011.