Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert
Malpractice More Important to Your Bottom Line - CMS Ups the Ante
Feeling hit hard by malpractice insurance costs? Medicare feels your pain.
Starting next year, the malpractice rates in your area will have a greater weight in determining the Medicare Economic Index, as well as the geographic adjustments to physician pay. Malpractice insurance will account for 3.865 percent of the cost share weights, up from 3.2 percent in 2001-2003, but still less than the 4.8 percent of the mid-1990s.
Physician earnings will account for somewhat less of the cost index, as will equipment and supplies. Practice expenses, employee wages, and rents all will account for slightly more of the index as well.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will also change the data sources it uses to calculate geographic costs to make them more up-to-date and accurate. The downside is that some of the non-malpractice-related data won't be available for 2004, but will take effect in 2005.
Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert
- Dozens of Procedures Slashed in 2004 Physician Fee Schedule - 99311, 45385, 99348 Among Hardest Hit
If your physician sees lots of patients in the nursing home or home care settings, [...] - Billing 93312-93317 As Monitoring Versus Diagnostic - Learn the Difference or Rue Your Reimbursement
Time to start digging back through your files. As of July 1, you can once [...] - COVERED SERVICES
According to a new bulletin from carrier Trailblazer, the diagnostic applications of TEE fall into [...] - Use Counseling to Raise E/M Levels - But Don't Overuse This Technique
Want to bill for a 99214 or 99215 office visit but can't prove the required [...] - Malignant, Benign Lesions:
All the Same to Medicare - New Codes for Home Cardiac Telemetry, ESRD Care
The 2003 CPT book changed the definitions for excision of benign lesions (11400-11446) and malignant [...] - Malpractice More Important to Your Bottom Line - CMS Ups the Ante
Feeling hit hard by malpractice insurance costs? Medicare feels your pain.
Starting next year, the malpractice [...] - Minimally Invasive CABG Maximally Noncovered - ButYou Can Bill 33510-33523 for New Techniques
When it comes to new surgical techniques, it's often hard to figure out what Medicare [...] - CMS Issues Final 2003 Pricing Update
Even while Medicare was putting forward its massive 2004 fee schedule plan for doctors, it [...]
