Do most practices bill more level 3 E/M codes than level 4 and level 5 codes? How about the lower-level codes? You got your first look at how some of your peers stack up in this issue's Benchmark of the Week feature, which compared the ratio of low-level E/M codes to level 3 codes billed and the ratio of high-level codes to level 3 codes billed.

Now you can check out the ratios of every single state and territory in the U.S. with our complete table, titled "E/M visit levels by state or territory, 2008." It's a free document (read more) ...

The Physician Regulatory Issues Team (PRIT) reports CMS's electronic fund transfer (EFT) authorization form (CMS 588) has been updated, again.

Some Medicare providers had encountered a small problem with previous versions of the 588 this year. An applicant had 12 boxes to write down the practice's bank account number, even though some accounts have 13 digits.

The new 588 form (pdf) can now accommodate 13-digit account numbers.  

Your Medicare patients may be getting calls from shameless scammers trying to capitalize on the health reform law's "donut hole" provision. The law requires the government to issue a $250 check to seniors on Medicare that will cover the $250 gap in prescription drug coverage -- commonly referred to as the donut hole. TIP: Tell your patients to watch out for calls from scammers who may be posing as HHS or CMS officials. The scammers are allegedly calling seniors and asking them for sensitive information such as their Social Security or Medicare numbers, under the pretext of needing these details in order to issue the $250 checks. Of course, no such details are needed, as HHS is (read more) ...

Cigna Government Services announces it's been awarded the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) contract for processing and paying physician claims in jurisdiction 15, consisting of the state of Ohio and the commonwealth of Kentucky.

Our records show Highmark had been in line for the jurisdiction 15 contract, but a protest was filed against the award. Currently, National Government Services oversees the Medicare program in Kentucky and Palmetto runs the program in Ohio.

Check the postmark date on the envelope of a revalidation request to make sure it's within a week of the date on the letter. If not, let CMS's Physicians Regulatory Issues Team (PRIT) know about it.

In a late May post, PRIT reported two physicians complained about delays in receiving revalidation request letters. One letter was dated March 31 but was postmarked on April 28. Another letter was dated on March 31 and wasn't sent until May 8.

The problem with the delay is that you must respond to a revalidation request within 60 days - otherwise your Medicare billing privileges are revoked. In these cases, days went by before the letters were dropped in the mail and the physicians lost valuable time to complete enrollment applications to revalidate.

PRIT says they worked out this issue with the carrier responsible for the problem, but the Medicare physician troubleshooting team still wants to hear from physician practices if and when the same issue pops up again. PRIT's phone number in Washington is 202-260-7153.