Part B News
04/01/2012

HHS has put physician practices on notice that it will be taking a close look at billing under Medicare's "incident-to" billing rules this year, so now is a good time to review how you use this option.

04/01/2012

Starting with the next edition of The Joint Commission's Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals (to be published this spring), The Joint Commission will change the term "disruptive behavior" to "behaviors that undermine a culture of safety." The accrediting agency is making the change to its terminology in LD.03.01.01, elements of performance (EP) 4 and 5, to clear up any ambiguity that the term "disruptive behavior" might cause and to better reflect the intent of the standard.

04/01/2012

Oncology clinics traditionally house some of the most vulnerable patients when it comes to contracting dangerous infections, further compounding the already debilitating effects of cancer treatments such as chemotherapy. Because of this, it's doubly important that oncology clinics have a plan in place to protect their patient population.

04/01/2012

Of course doctors are stressed, not only from the nature of the job-saving lives-but also due to the evolving nature of healthcare reform, mulling whether to get out of the business, and considering whether to realign themselves with hospitals. In addition, there's a constant worry about malpractice litigation.

04/01/2012

In January, the American College of Physicians (ACP) issued a sixth edition of its ethics manual, the first rewrite since 2005. The revised manual, published in ACP's flagship journal Annals of Internal Medicine, offers new guidance on issues such as end-of-life care, physician-industry relations, and ethics in medical research.

03/27/2012

Providers and payers now have until June 30 to transition fully to HIPAA 5010 without penalty, so use that time to ensure your claims are paid correctly and on time. Unlike the previous delay announced in November 2011 that required providers to submit a transition plan, this delay has no strings attached. Providers and plans are required only to be 5010-compliant by June 30.

03/26/2012

You may be entitled to an extra 2% in interest, potentially thousands of dollars, on your Medicare claims because of claims disruptions caused by the switch to HIPAA 5010. But getting the pay boost could prove difficult, as you must first prove you deserve it.

03/26/2012

Benchmark your practice’s ratio of new patient visits to established patient visits against the ratio of your specialty, community or yourself in previous years to determine whether you’re missing an opportunity to grow your business. You can ascertain that figure by taking your total service count for E/M initial visit codes (99201-99205) and dividing it by the total number of established visit codes (99211-99215).

03/26/2012

Waiting room wireless Internet access (Wi-Fi) could decrease claims denials from data entry errors and increase your patients’ satisfaction with your practice. Pulmonary and Allergy Associates PA is planning to install Wi-Fi for patients in its waiting room, separate from the network its staff uses, says Larry Epstein, CEO of the Summit, N.J., practice.

03/26/2012

When your practice offers payment plans to patients, make sure those plans don’t run afoul of the federal Truth in Lending Act.

You’ve likely been getting more patient requests than ever to set up a payment plan, particularly in the first quarter because of high-deductible health plans. In fact, 54% of 284 respondents to a January Part B News deductibles survey said more patients have asked about payment plans in the last few months. While some practices have opted to outsource the plans to a third-party credit card processing company, you still must take steps to ensure your plan is legal (PBN 2/6/12).

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