Part B News | Editors' Blog

Medicare's annual wellness visits get strong start

by: Lauren C. Williams Mar 16, 2011

The new annual wellness visits for seniors received acclaim on Capitol Hill Wednesday and its success could mean a revenue boost for your practice. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) boasted of the Medicare program’s success and potential overall cost reduction in a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the progress of new benefits and programs enacted by The Affordable Care Act, according to a media release.

CMS: Wellness visits done in hospital settings will be held until April

by: Grant Huang Mar 14, 2011

CMS has issued a reminder that annual wellness visit (AWV) services rendered in the hospital setting (inpatient or outpatient) will be held by contractors and not paid until April 3. This only applies to AWVs that are billed alone on a claim; when the AWV is billed with another service, the entire claim will be processed, the agency says. The reason is that Medicare contractors must update their claims processing systems; they won't be ready to process standalone AWVs until April 3.

HHS: Early data shows EHRs reduce errors, improve patient outcomes

by: Grant Huang Mar 11, 2011

Using health information technology (HIT) such as electronic health record (EHR) systems produce rapid, measurable benefits, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs. The study, completed by the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for HIT (ONC), examined a large number of articles that measured the effectiveness of HIT use. The conclusion? More than 90% of the articles "showed overall positive effects ... on key aspects of care including quality and efficiency," HHS touts in a March 8 press release.

Palmetto prepares for MAC transition in Virginia

by: Grant Huang Mar 7, 2011

Providers in Virginia are currently under the jurisdiction of TrailBlazer for Part B Medicare claims, but they'll soon be dealing with Palmetto GBA instead. It's another milestone in the ongoing Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) transitions, which have been carried piecemeal thanks to delays from protests by the MACs and would-be MACs. Starting March 19, the J11 A/B MAC for Part B services in Virginia will be Palmetto GBA, a subisdiary of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.

Guide to fighting E/M error rates is now up

by: Grant Huang Mar 3, 2011

Earlier I mentioned on the Editor's Blog that TrailBlazer had uncovered some denial rates on established E/M services that so staggeringly high that some consultants voiced concerns about the carrier being too strict. Seeing as how established E/Ms are staple services for primary care practices and plenty of specialties, I wrote a Part B News story about combating the errors TrailBlazer claimed to be seeing en masse across its sample of 200 randomly chosen claims across six states.

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