Part B News | Part B News

Use a good plan, common sense to meet new patient language standards

06/06/2016

The ways in which the new nondiscrimination rule increases your responsibilities to limited-English-speaking patients aren’t entirely clear, experts tell Part B News — but you should use common sense and stand ready to meet a few specific requirements.

Small practices: Resources, tips to avoid potentially painful impact of MIPS

06/06/2016

by: Richard Scott

Small practices should brace for a rocky landing when the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) docks in 2017, as more than half of all solo providers and groups with fewer than 25 clinicians will incur a penalty, CMS expects. Or will they?

In first MIPS year, advanced APM benefits will be rare — and risky

06/06/2016

by: Roy Edroso

You may be glad you and most Part B providers have to perform quality reporting through the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) instead of advanced alternative payment models (APMs) in 2017.

Estimates peg 346,000 losers, 412,000 winners in MIPS-associated payments

06/06/2016

by: Richard Scott

Early cost estimates associated with the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) may have put a scare into small practices because CMS predicted that nearly nine out of 10 solo practitioners (87%) would receive a penalty as high as 4% of total Medicare payments in the first year of the program.

Hackers setting their sights on healthcare

06/01/2016

While most physician practices will never experience a major data breach‑one that involves more than 500 patient files‑practices have to take measures to avoid both the financial impact of a breach and the threat a breach poses to a physician's reputation. And while concerns about a data breach may be low on a physician's list of daily concerns, they need to be on the radar at all times.

Most data breaches now the result of hacks

06/01/2016

In past years, most healthcare data breaches were the result of misplaced laptops or random burglaries in which thieves stole computers with no idea that patient files were on the hard drive. But the nature of data breaches is changing.

Employee retention a bigger challenge in growing economy

06/01/2016

Job growth in healthcare continued its torrid pace in 2015, with more than 172,000 new jobs created. And that growth is creating more opportunities for clinicians, nurses, and other staff members that help a practice run.

Quality reporting a 'considerable burden' for practices

06/01/2016

A new study has found that the average physician practice spends more than $40,000 on quality reporting each year, and that much of the reporting is not useful to those practices.

Don’t use ABNs on Medicare Advantage patients – and watch that ‘waiver’

05/23/2016

by: Roy Edroso

Question: Can I give an advanced beneficiary notice of non-coverage (ABN) to Medicare Advantage patients when I don’t expect payment on a service?

4 questions to ask to challenge the government’s use of extrapolation

05/23/2016

by: Marla Durben Hirsch

Government auditors and investigators use extrapolation frequently to calculate the extent of a provider’s overpayment. But that doesn’t mean you should automatically accept their findings, warns attorney Ross Burris with Polsinelli in Atlanta.

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