Part B News | Benchmark of the Week

Bankruptcies rise among physician practices, bucking the trend

09/16/2024

While the year is not yet out, bankruptcies are hitting the medical practice business harder in 2024 than they did in 2023, climbing a substantial 60% year to year.

Surgical, postop-only claims almost even for transfer of care cases

09/09/2024

by: Julia Kyles, CPC

Billing practitioners who do not treat patients during a procedure’s full global period are slightly more likely to report claims with surgical care-only modifier 54 than with postoperative care modifier 55, according to Medicare Part B claims data.

Modifier 78 continues its slide, though most codes have 0% denials

08/26/2024

by: Roy Edroso

The Medicare billing numbers show a precipitous pandemic-era drop in utilization of modifier 78 (Unplanned return to the operating room by the same physician following initial procedure for a related procedure during the postoperative period). You may have expected that losing trend to slow as America began to recover from the pandemic in 2022. It did, but not by much. The total number of 78 citations slid from 65,857 in 2021 to 51,177 in 2022, a 22% loss.

E/M aches and pains: Just 2 codes would see fee rise in ’25

08/19/2024

by: Richard Scott

The outlook is bleak for most of the 101 E/M codes (99202-99498) available for billing under Medicare Part B in 2025. Just two codes in the E/M series are on track to see a positive shift in reimbursement, and one of those gainers is up a scant $0.03 year-to-year, according to an analysis of the proposed 2025 Medicare physician fee schedule.

Telehealth by mental health providers surged while other specialties slipped

08/12/2024

by: Julia Kyles, CPC

Providers from three specialties broke the trend for Medicare Part B telehealth services, based on claims data submitted by the 10 specialties that reported the highest volume of telehealth services in place of face-to-face encounters in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Losers outpace winners in 2025 PFS payment-adjustment chart

08/05/2024

by: Roy Edroso

The grim conversion factor news in the proposed 2025 Medicare physician fee schedule only gets worse when you look at how it plays out in specific physician payments. According to the supplemental files published with the rule, only 173 out of 4,146 codes would see a positive adjustment from 2024.

Impact of the projected conversion factor cut will vary across services

07/29/2024

by: Julia Kyles, CPC

Office or other outpatient E/M visits will be among the codes that fare the best under the projected conversion factor cut that CMS released with the proposed 2025 Medicare physician fee schedule. High-volume eye care codes will see the biggest drops next year.

Caregiver training featured among new HCPCS codes

07/22/2024

by: Richard Scott

CMS seeks to maintain a focus on behavioral health management, debuting a range of new HCPCS codes that, should they become finalized, would add a bevy of new billing opportunities for Part B providers come Jan. 1, 2025.

Denial rates edge up as claims fall for critical care codes

07/15/2024

by: Richard Scott

Despite a decrease in the number of claims for critical care services that medical groups billed to Medicare Part B, denial rates have inched up over a recent four-year stretch.

Weak pay raises for lower-level clinical staff, especially MAs, RNs

07/08/2024

by: Roy Edroso

A new Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) survey finds that while increased patient volume presents challenges for many practices, pay rates for medical assistants (MA) who can help ease that pressure have only risen slightly in the past year. Over the same period, other clinical and nursing staff did better.

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