Prevent provider identity theft by storing enrollment login and password credentials in a safe and secure location. TIP: Restrict access to the NPPES database to key employees who need credentialing information to do their job, experts say.

Expect some of your Medicare Advantage (MA) patients to switch from their current plan to a different one or even back to Medicare fee-for-service. Payers are dropping their MA products, and the outcome of health reform efforts may cause many more to follow their lead, forcing beneficiaries to make changes in their Medicare coverage.

You and your peers located in one of 51 "underpaid" areas will receive a pay increase once CMS adjusts practice expense (PE) geographic price cost indices (GPCIs) to comply with provisions in the new health reform law, congressional aides tell Part B News. Your pay boost is retroactive to Jan. 1, according to the language in the law.

When billing for Home Health Certification, what do you list as the date of service? I have received conflicting information with some people saying it is the date the physician signs the certification while others believe it is the first day of the certification period. I'm looking for a cut and dry answer on the CMS website.

Specialties that bill the most allergy test codes to Medicare saw a sharp, across-the-board increase in denials from 2007 to 2008. Several also saw large increases in utilization of these allergy codes, which are among the most commonly billed. NOTE: These specialties were selected for billing the most allergy codes to Medicare; these codes were selected for having the highest annual utilization.

CMS finally may get a permanent boss: Donald Berwick, a Harvard health policy professor and former pediatrician, is expected to be President Obama's choice to helm the agency. The White House has yet to make a formal announcement, but a wide array of news outlets have reported that Berwick is the president's pick.

You'll see almost as many price decreases as price increases for Part B drugs you bill in your office beginning in the second quarter of 2010 under CMS's Average Sales Price (ASP), plus 6% payment system, according to an exclusive Part B News analysis.

You won't have to worry about the new GX modifier, which CMS intends for use with Part A claims when a voluntary advance beneficiary notice of non-coverage (ABN) form is issued to patients, an agency official says.

PPACA mandates HHS develop new standards for filing and receiving claims, many of which medical societies such as the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) have suggested for years. You won't see the entire law implemented immediately, but HHS will develop and finalize rules for "administrative simplification" provisions over the next six years, according to the law.

Having your physicians dictate notes into a computer could reduce costs while improving the accuracy and speed of your claims processing, according to your peers who've adopted the technology. A five-physician specialty practice in Seattle tells how they switched from using a human transcriptionist to voice recognition software in 2005.