You'll have to keep waiting for CMS to reprocess claims to account for several retroactive changes to the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. CMS hasn't set a mechanism to efficiently reprocess claims and Congress has yet to appropriate funding for the effort. "Because of the large number of past claims that must be reprocessed, we are still working on the best process to handle the work load most efficiently," a spokeswoman tells Part B News.

CMS wants to pay practices up to $20,000 annually for participating in a new, two-year demonstration program designed to test whether the use of clinical decision support systems can improve the appropriate ordering of advanced diagnostic tests. The program, dubbed the Medical Imaging Demonstration, is open to practices who ordered at least five CT, MRI and/or Spect myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) procedures for Medicare beneficiaries during 2009.

Take a second look at reporting these quality data codes whether you are new to or currently participating in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). A Part B News analysis shows PQRI participants have a higher degree of success with certain quality measures. Providers correctly submitted quality codes 78.25% of the time, up 10 percentage points from the 2008 reporting period, according to numbers released by CMS in June.

Eligibility in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program is open to hospitals and physicians who aren't hospital-based. But what about those who don't fit exactly into either of those categories? This week, CMS answered questions posed by Part B News readers on the eligibility of physicians who practice in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and nonhospital-based physicians working in multiple locations.

Your 2010 payments for some services performed in the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) setting have shifted slightly due to CMS implementing provisions in the health reform law, Part B News has learned. Both surgical procedures and ancillary services were affected by the changes, detailed in the Aug. 3 Federal Register. Implementing health reform had a minimal impact on the outpatient prospective payment system rule (OPPS) and Medicare ASC payments, the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association said in an online statement.

Summary: This chart shows the 10 specialties that saw the greatest growth in per-physician median compensation from 2008 to 2009, based on data published in the Medical Group Management Association's (MGMA) 2010 Physician Compensation and Production Survey.

You need to address a diverse array of challenges when your doctors leave of the practice or new ones arrive, a scenario expected to increase in the next few years, according to practice consultants and administrators. Practice-altering changes such as the adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems and ICD-10 may accelerate the retirement plans of veteran physicians reluctant to embrace new technology. Here's a four-step checklist to address when you face a physician transition, whether it's due to retirement, practice growth or simply a doctor changing jobs.

Next year, each eligible physician in your practice can start to earn up to $18,000 in bonuses from the Medicare program. At the earliest, CMS says bonuses would start to go out in May 2011 to those who have demonstrated meaningful use. Here are the key dates to track.

This week's question is answered by Regan Bode, CPC, CPC-H, CPMA, CEMC, ACS-EM, content manager for DecisionHealth and consultant for DecisionHealth Professional Services.

Q.  Some of our payers will pay us for upper endoscopy with biopsy (EGD) 43235 and 43239 separately when they are billed on same day, but Medicare consistently denies 43239. Are we allowed to bill for both codes together or not?