This chart compares high-volume codes billed by family practitioners and internists. Specifically, the eight codes selected below represent services frequently billed by internists that are billed far less often by family doctors. Codes billed less than 1 million times annually by internists were excluded from analysis.

The Treasury Department has reduced the private consumer interest rate to 11%, which became the interest rate for Medicare overpayments and underpayments on April 16. This is the second-lowest rate in nine years, according to CMS data. The lowest interest rate - 10.75% - was in effect from Feb. 11, 2003 to April 27, 2003.

Over the last week, OIG Chief Counsel Lewis Morris has testified before Congressional committees discussing the need to crack down on fraud, waste and abuse. More regulation and scrutiny from the OIG, such as probation periods for new providers financed by enrollment application fees, might look good to lawmakers as Morris says the government gets back $17 for every $1 spent on OIG oversight.

Congressional budget leaders scrapped a proposed, long-term Medicare payment fix from the federal budget plan (PBN 4/13/09), opting to freeze the physician pay rates at 2009 levels for 2010 and 2011. However, the budget agreed to on April 27 and approved by both houses April 29 does not necessarily reflect future policy, a House aide specializing in Medicare legislation tells Part B News. Congress will still need to pass a bill to avoid the devastating 21% cut set for Jan. 1, but money is set aside for a two-year fix.

Radical new bonus payment options are being considered as top lawmakers move closer to drafting the health reform bill, Part B News has learned. Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) held a lengthy closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill April 29 to discuss the options, which were previewed in a 52-page "policy options" document.

Major recent events like the staggering economy and President Obama's push for massive health reform won't have much impact on the transition to the ICD-10 code sets, according to a key professional group.

Incident-to and split/shared visits continue to bedevil non-physician practitioners (NPPs), with denials particularly high for physical therapists. But it doesn't have to be this way, experts say. If you take the time to learn and understand the definitions and requirements for both types of billing, you'll boost your reimbursement and lower your compliance risks by following the rules.

You may be able to overturn a scope-of-practice denial immediately by contacting your carrier directly, experts say.

This chart shows how having NPPs in a practice affects key measures of practice productivity, including earned revenue, improved physician productivity and increases in the patient base.

This week's question is answered by Sean Weiss CPC, vice president of DecisionHealth Professional Services.

Q.   Can a nurse practitioner (NP) bill under his or her own National Provider Identifier for some services and "incident-to" on the same date of service depending on the type of services they provide?