You will now get paid for billing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests for patients with FDA-approved cardiac pacemakers on claims submitted after July 7, CMS says in a transmittal released Sept. 26.

Remember: CMS previously considered MRIs a contraindication for cardiac pacemaker patients, as well as those with metallic clips on vascular aneurysms, and would not pay those claims with certain exceptions.

Primary care practices would have a shot at collecting some extra cash while trying a new, more comprehensive clinical approach under a new CMS pilot program. The Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative (CPCI) is a four-year program that pay you an extra $20 per patient, per month, on top of regular Medicare fee-for-service charges. The $20 rate, dubbed a “monthly care management fee,” is good for the first two years; then the rate falls to $15 per patient, per month. Additional cash: If after two years, the total cost incurred by participating practices is less than that of non-participating practices, a portion of the savings is shared with participants.

Clearly whoever said Twitter and Facebook were only for the young whippersnappers is out of touch with the real world. Everyone uses social media, and doctors are taking to it at an increasingly rapid pace, according to a study released by QuantiaMD in early September.

Nearly 90% of physicians use at least one social media site for personal use, while over 65% use them for professional purposes, the study says.

One of your biggest opportunities for new revenue in 2011 and beyond is Medicare’s new annual wellness visit (AWV). One of the biggest obstacles to billing the AWV quickly and efficiently has been finding the right form for the visit, which is unlike a regular physical. Now some vendors are catching on and offering ways to cut physician time by digitizing the new encounter form needed to bill the AWV under Medicare guidelines.

Medicare Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) are now in good company since HHS finalized a rule Sept. 14 establishing the Medicaid RAC program Building on the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor program. The program, effective Jan. 1, 2012, vows to save CMS $2.1 billion in fraudulent funding over the next five years, nearly half of which will be returned directly to the States.