Part B News | Benchmark of the Week

Unplanned return modifier 78 reverses slide, but gets denied a lot

07/21/2025

Use of the modifier 78 (Unplanned return to the operating room by the same physician following initial procedure for a related procedure during the postoperative period) has been in steep decline in the past 10 years, falling from more than 531,000 claims in 2015 to 87,826 claims in 2020 and 51,177 in 2022. But in 2023, the most recent year for which Medicare data is available, there was a slight reversal.

PCPs embraced new prolonged service, chronic pain in 2023

07/14/2025

by: Julia Kyles, CPC

Higher-than-average reporting and relatively low denial rates indicate smooth adoption of several new HCPCS G codes that were introduced in 2023. In addition, a few specialties took the lead in using the new codes, according to the latest Medicare Part B claims data.

Aside from XS, denial rates on X modifiers diverge widely

06/30/2025

by: Richard Scott

Practices turned to two of the X-series modifiers in place of modifier 59 (Distinct procedural service) more than 7 million times in 2023 and saw mixed results with denial rates on the top-billed codes.

Primary care, oncology specialties dominate substitute physician services

06/23/2025

by: Julia Kyles, CPC

Analysis of Medicare Part B claims data indicates that when practices bring in a substitute physician, they favor the fee-for-time arrangements over reciprocal billing arrangements. A closer review of the claims data reveals the specialists who are most likely to bring in a substitute when they take time off.

Payer negotiations, burden fuel private practice selloff

06/16/2025

by: Richard Scott

Amid the ongoing decline of private practice ownership, provider groups point to one determining factor that overshadows the rest: the desire to hold better negotiating power with their payers.

Survey: Patient wait times rising across specialties, except ortho

06/09/2025

by: Roy Edroso

You may have suspected as much, and now a survey of 1,391 physician offices located in 15 metropolitan areas offers evidence that wait times for patients to get physician appointment have gone up substantially in recent years, at least in many metropolitan areas.

Top psych codes endured post-COVID slump, with one exception

06/02/2025

by: Julia Kyles, CPC

Most high-utilization psychiatry codes revealed symptoms of the COVID-19 slump that hit other services. However, denials for many services increased after a dip in 2020. A review of Medicare Part B data for the years 2019 to 2023 identified several top primary psychiatry codes.

Claims jump 17% for PA established office visits over 5 years

05/19/2025

by: Richard Scott

Physician associate (PA) billing boomed in a recent five-year stretch, as total claims climbed dramatically and the frequently reported E/M office visits (99211-99215) surged to new highs.

Critical care codes fall hard from COVID boom, resetting trend curve

05/12/2025

by: Roy Edroso

Medicare utilization of many CPT codes, such as outpatient E/M codes, took a beating in the pandemic years. But use of the critical care code 99291 (Critical care, evaluation and management of the critically ill or critically injured patient; first 30-74 minutes) and add-on code 99292 ( … ; each additional 30 minutes) jumped higher during that period.

Practices rely on locum tenens when physicians take time off

05/05/2025

by: Julia Kyles, CPC

When it is time for physicians to take a break, they are significantly more likely to bring in a fee-for-time provider, formerly known as a locum tenens, than to rely on a reciprocal billing arrangement, according to a review of Medicare Part B claims data from 2013 to 2023.

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