AHIMA disputes study that says ICD-10 switch will be costly
A study that says you'll pay a minimum of more than $80,000 to
switch to ICD-10 has drawn stiff criticism from the American Health
Information Management Association (AHIMA), a major professional
group that has long supported CMS's three-year timeline for ICD-10
implementation (PBN
9/1/08). |
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AMA RUC recommendations that were not accepted by CMS
CMS accepted most, but not all, of the AMA RUC's suggestions on
relative value units for new and revised codes (PBN 11/10/08). |
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CMS releases details for new e-prescribing bonus incentive
You are eligible for the new 2% electronic prescription bonus if
10% of your total Part B payments come from a list of 33
office-based service codes - which include commonly used new and
established E/M outpatient visits. |
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Flu, pneumococcal vaccines get small reimbursement boost
You'll receive a few small, positive payment updates for
influenza and pneumococcal vaccines effective Sept. 1, 2008, CMS
announced Transmittal 1623 to the Medicare Claims Processing
Manual. |
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Benchmark of the Week: Ten codes with greatest growth from 2006 to 2007
This chart shows ten high-utilization codes that saw the
greatest percent growth in utilization from 2006 to 2007. |
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2009 Final Physician Fee Schedule: Physician resource use reports won't be used against you
You won't have to worry about being exposed to audits if CMS
chooses to add your practice to its Physician Resource Use Feedback
program (PRUF), the agency asserts. |
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Daschle to be nominated HHS Secretary
President-elect Barack Obama has selected Tom Daschle, a former
Senate majority leader, to fill the HHS secretary post in his
cabinet, according to published reports. |
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Ask a Part B News expert
This week's question is answered by John Bishop PA-C, senior
consultant, of DecisionHealth Professional Services. |
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Hybrid technology offers practice management savings
A new, free white paper from DecisionHealth, the parent
company of Part B News, explores a lesser known breed of
physician practice management software that is gaining industry
popularity for handling medical billing data and operations faster
than older technologies. |
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NPP Report: SLPs granted the same enrollment, billing privileges as other
Speech language pathologists (SLPs) should familiarize
themselves with Medicare enrollment form CMS-855I even though their
specialty is not currently on the form. |
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NPP Report: Let NPPs play a prime role in new 'Welcome to Medicare'
You should expect more requests for the Initial Preventive
Physical Exam (also known as the Welcome to Medicare exam) in
2009. |
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NPP Benchmark: Ten NPP codes with highest growth from 2006 to 2007
These 10 codes are often billed by NPPs; they were chosen for
having the greatest increase in utilization from 2006 to 2007. |
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NPP Report: 2009: Audiologists eligible for PQRI bonus for first time
Audiologists who want a shot at the bonus available through the
Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) program will get
their chance in 2009. |
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