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Anesthesia Coding Alert

Claims Submission:

Start Calculating Minutes -- Not Units -- to Prevent Payment Delays

Published on Thu Jan 06, 2011

5010 standards lead to universal time reporting rules effective Jan. 1. While all physicians will be affected when the 5010 claims form goes into effect, the transition brings one monumental change specific to anesthesia providers. Beginning Jan. 1, 2012, the new standards for electronic claims submission will require you to report all anesthesia time in minutes instead of units. Read on for advice on how to ramp up fast and keep payment flowing. Background: For years, anesthesia providers have been able to choose whether to calculate the time for their services based on actual minutes or time units (one time unit could equal 8, 10, or 15 minutes, depending on the payer). Having this flexibility could play to the anesthesia provider's advantage when the number of minutes rounded calculations to the next full time unit. Once the provider reaches 8 minutes into a new 15-minute time unit, many payers will [...]
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