Start checking your Recovery Audit Contractor's (RAC) website daily. CMS recently approved several issues for RACs to investigate through complex reviews of your patient records and charts. Important: RACs cannot request a patient record from you for a complex review unless CMS approves the issue the RAC is targeting. You'll only know what your RAC can request from you by tracking CMS-approved issues on its website.

Recent Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) data shows controls to rein in spending are not working, which is why you're now seeing calls in Washington for MedPAC or some other independent agency to set payment rates (PBN 7/27/09).

Be prepared to once again have the option to administer drugs supplied by the Competitive Acquisition Program (CAP) in 2010 rather than buy and bill for the drugs yourself, CMS says. CMS hopes to rekindle your interest in CAP by loosening restrictions, according to plans to bring CAP back in the proposed 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

Make sure your practice is using modifier 25 correctly when billing an additional E/M service with a procedure. A Part B News analysis of CMS billing data shows denial rates for lower-level E/M codes billed with the modifier are well above 20%. Experts believe you and your peers are appending modifier 25 (significant, separately identifiable E/M service by the same physician on the same day of the procedure or other service) with minor procedures such as an injection.

You don't need to spend a ton on a new electronic health record system (EHR) and completely revamp your daily routines to run a more efficient practice. There are less expensive, less complicated alternatives that have been proven in the field to simplify practice administration, experts say. Here are three tools your practice can use to improve its performance.