Your 2010 payments for some services performed in the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) setting have shifted slightly due to CMS implementing provisions in the health reform law, Part B News has learned. Both surgical procedures and ancillary services were affected by the changes, detailed in the Aug. 3 Federal Register. Implementing health reform had a minimal impact on the outpatient prospective payment system rule (OPPS) and Medicare ASC payments, the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association said in an online statement.

Summary: This chart shows the 10 specialties that saw the greatest growth in per-physician median compensation from 2008 to 2009, based on data published in the Medical Group Management Association's (MGMA) 2010 Physician Compensation and Production Survey.

You need to address a diverse array of challenges when your doctors leave of the practice or new ones arrive, a scenario expected to increase in the next few years, according to practice consultants and administrators. Practice-altering changes such as the adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems and ICD-10 may accelerate the retirement plans of veteran physicians reluctant to embrace new technology. Here's a four-step checklist to address when you face a physician transition, whether it's due to retirement, practice growth or simply a doctor changing jobs.

Next year, each eligible physician in your practice can start to earn up to $18,000 in bonuses from the Medicare program. At the earliest, CMS says bonuses would start to go out in May 2011 to those who have demonstrated meaningful use. Here are the key dates to track.

This week's question is answered by Regan Bode, CPC, CPC-H, CPMA, CEMC, ACS-EM, content manager for DecisionHealth and consultant for DecisionHealth Professional Services.

Q.  Some of our payers will pay us for upper endoscopy with biopsy (EGD) 43235 and 43239 separately when they are billed on same day, but Medicare consistently denies 43239. Are we allowed to bill for both codes together or not?

What drives the place of service (POS) 51? We have been using POS 21 for inpatients monitored 24 hours as defined by POS 51. Would POS 51 have a unique provider number separate from the acute care I have been using? Does that change fee schedule reimbursement?

CMS released changes to the Lab National Coverage Determination (NCD) software, effective Oct.1, 2010, to be implemented Oct. 4, 2010. For more information see Transmittal 2001, Change Request 7057, to the Medicare Claims Processing Manual released July 16, 2010.

This chart examines how the level of E/M codes billed to Medicare differs by state, based on ratios that compare the most common E/M service billed for both new and established patients, the level 3 visit, to the two lower and two higher levels, based on 2008 CMS claims data. The low-level codes represent levels 1 and 2, while the high-level codes reflect a combination of levels 4 and 5.

You must consider a myriad of potential issues, including the impact of the finalized Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program, when your practice weighs the pros and cons of joining forces with another group, experts tell Part B News.