Your non-physician practitioners (NPP) won't be eligible for an electronic health record (EHR) bonus from Medicare next year. But your NPPs can earn a bonus when they meet standards for meaningful use of an EHR and hit patient thresholds for the Medicaid program.

It seems like a no-brainer: Your non-physician practitioners (NPPs) will get a 10% Medicare payment bonus when they bill for lots of primary care services, according to the proposed 2011 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). But NPPs who bill a lot of services incident to might have a hard time qualifying for the bonus, which may not increase their revenue if they bill less incident to services in order to qualify.

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. Can you give me some clarity on when we are able to adjust deductibles or copays for our patients?

Download the August Tool of the Month, developed by DecisionHealth Professional Services, from Part B News. The tool is a memo to help enforce your office policies for tardiness and patient wait times. Use this customizable tool to reinforce standards your practice has set for the office, and most importantly, quality patient care.

Summary: This chart looks at how much physicians from 10 Medicare-heavy specialties were paid for each relative value unit (RVU) of work billed, based on 2008 and 2009 data from the Medical Group Management Association's (MGMA) Physician Compensation and Production Survey. NOTE: The dollar amounts graphed in the chart represent the mean compensation for each specialty based on all RVUs, not just physician work. NOTE: The MGMA methodology explicitly excludes technical components of all services.

Starting in 2011, general surgeons practicing in health professional shortage areas (HPSA) will be eligible for 10% surgery bonuses (PBN 7/12/10), CMS states in the proposed 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Here's an easy three-step process to determine whether you practice in an HPSA.

CMS will expand its value-based purchasing initiative this year, starting with more physician resource use feedback (PRUF) reports, which you'll simply get automatically without any action on your part. The expanded PRUF reports are another step toward the eventual implementation of a new payment modifier, which will change your Medicare reimbursement based on the quality and cost of the care you provide to patients.

When your practice sees denials for global services done in an ambulatory surgical center (ASC), check to make sure you don't miss out on a professional component payment your practice is entitled to under Medicare rules.

Your patients should have a choice of whether to receive Medicare's new annual wellness visit or the current Welcome to Medicare visit during their first 12 months of Medicare eligibility, according to comments filed by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) in response to the proposed 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

You'll soon have a forum to appeal a CMS decision to deny you a Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) bonus. CMS proposes in the 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PBN 7/12/10) to establish an informal appeals process through the program's Quality Net Help Desk starting in 2011. Here's how you do it.