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Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

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CMS Clarifies Rules for Submitting Medicare Secondary Payer Claims

Published on Wed May 02, 2012

Hint: Copy all beneficiary insurance cards, not just the Medicare one. When Part B practices perform self-audits, they often report that their top errors include Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) claims being billed as primary. You can avoid this common error, and other MSP denial issues, if you take heed of CMS's latest MSP instructions, which the agency issued last week as part of a MLN Matters article. Take a look at CMS's latest MSP billing tips to ensure that your claims process correctly the first time you submit them. 1. Ask Patients About All of Their Insurers. When a patient presents for a visit, you should ask him for all of his insurance cards. In some cases, a patient will present only his Medicare identification card, failing to give you any additional cards. This could cause unnecessary denials if you're inappropriately billing Medicare as primary. 2. Bill Primary Payer First, Not Simultaneously. [...]
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