The historically high denial rates on initial preventive physical examination (IPPE) and annual wellness visit (AWV) codes have seen a slight dip — even when billed with modifier 25 (Significantly, separately identifiable E/M service), commonly used when the physical results in a procedure.

Promoting a medical practice used to be a matter of posting an ad in the Yellow Pages® and sending out direct mailers, with radio and billboard ads thrown into the mix for larger or more ambitious practices. And while some of those methods are still an effective way to market a practice, they’re not enough in a world driven by social media and mobile technology.

For most practices, marketing requires at least a working knowledge of social media and the internet and the means or ability to leverage those tools into brand awareness. And while just having a website was enough a decade ago, most sites will be lost in the online wilderness now without the proper keywords that allow consumers to find them.

You’ll have a manageable set of diagnosis code changes on Oct. 1 — a total of 406 new, revised and deleted codes — and providers who code non-pressure chronic ulcers will receive the bulk of the new codes in the form of 72 new diagnoses that fill in the blanks for ulcers without evidence of necrosis.

Here are the latest policy updates from the nation’s capital on the Trump administration’s attempt to shore up the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace and how cuts will be applied to HHS.

If you have high quality scores or are an accountable care organization (ACO), the Consumer Assessment for Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) or web interface reporting methods for the merit-based payment incentive system (MIPS) could make quality reporting easier.

You’ll find sky-high improper payment rates for several groupings of lab codes spanning glucose testing, urinalysis, blood counts and others, according to CMS data from the 2016 Improper Payments Report.

The rapid pace of change in healthcare has made it difficult for many practices to keep up with administrative tasks related to billing, claims, EHRs, and quality reporting—prompting many to outsource jobs to third-party vendors. And while most practices try to avoid the expense of farming work out, the complexity of some tasks makes it more efficient and cost-effective to hire an outside vendor rather than risk overwhelming their own employees.

It’s not something that every practice is doing, but it’s becoming more common in an era where burnout rates among physicians are reaching all-time highs, driven in large part by the demands of nonclinical work.