An injunction against enforcement of certain anti-discrimination regulations seems to leave insurers and employers free to refuse certain procedures to transgender patients — but it does not necessarily protect them from legal action if they do.

Firm up your ICD-10 coding when your patient encounters are related to essential hypertension, immunization encounters, general adult and pediatric visits and other diagnoses tied to mass denials.

Nearly a dozen states in the U.S. have approved laws that treat e-cigarettes the same way as combustible cigarettes, but no state has gone as far as California, where state legislators raised the minimum smoking age to 21 and voters approved a heavy tax on the sale of regular cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

While most analysts agree that any substantial changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are unlikely this year, even minor changes to the ACA could result in millions of newly insured people losing insurance and millions fewer new-patient office visits in 2018 and beyond. And those changes could come at a time when physicians are struggling with escalating costs and flat reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid.

For years, physicians have had little clear guidance for patients with questions about e-cigarettes and whether they’re a safer alternative to traditional smoking. But that changed in December 2016 when the Surgeon General issued a report that said e-cigarettes represent a public health hazard to teens and young adults and should not be used by adults as part of smoking cessation programs.

While nearly all Part B providers have to engage the Quality Payment Program (QPP) in some way to avoid pay cuts, voluntary incentive programs can increase your providers’ payments – without financial risk.