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OCR to providers: Watch for ‘human frailty’ breaches, encryption issues

02/25/2013

Two top officers of the main enforcement bureau for HIPAA privacy and security rules addressed the Annual HIPAA Summit in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 19, giving providers some clues as to what their investigators will be looking for in the age of the “mega-rule.” Among their focal points: training, data breaches, encryption and use of protected health information (PHI) in marketing.

More waiting for PECOS surrogate program but other small changes speed enrollment

02/25/2013

by: Karen Long

CMS is “a ways off” from getting a surrogate program up and running for the Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS).

The program will legalize a now noncompliant but common practice of non-physician staff using the doctor’s username and password to enroll in PECOS.

State laws, pay-for-performance making telehealth harder to ignore

02/25/2013

by: Roy Edroso

Telehealth technology can be a worthwhile investment for your practice if you’re involved or expect to be involved in pay-for-performance models. And though Medicare isn’t expected to expand eligibility for telehealth reimbursement anytime soon, your state may require your private insurers to do so.

New telehealth pharmacologic management code

02/25/2013

by: Roy Edroso

Psychiatrists and prescribing psychologists can use a new telehealth G-code to join the eight others that debuted last month, CMS announced Feb. 1. CMS added the code G0459 for inpatient telehealth pharmacologic management, including prescription, retroactively effective Jan. 25.

HIPAA tips from the Summit co-chair

02/25/2013

by: Roy Edroso

At the HIPAA Summit in Washington, D.C., co-chairman Alan S. Goldberg, adjunct professor of health law at George Mason University, went through a list of HIPAA to-dos worth sharing with our readers:

Expect fewer psychotherapy codes, new add-on for medication management

02/25/2013

by: Laura Evans and Julia Kyles

Your staff has new billing rules to follow for several psychiatric services this year. CPT 2013 eliminates the majority of the codes, but the deletion of the pharmacological management code (90862) may have the biggest impact.

Provider telehealth billing trends, denial rates with mods. GT and GQ, 2010-2011

02/25/2013

by: Lauren C. Williams

The following graph represents providers’ billing patterns and utilization of telehealth services from 2010 to 2011. Overall, telehealth services are underutilized, with medication management (90862) being the top-billed service followed by psychiatric diagnostic interviews (90801) and level 3 established patient E/Ms (99213).

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