Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

Plus: This MAC wants signatures on appeals.

A new funding push to reduce hospital readmissions underscores the measure’s importance for hospitals. CMS is sinking another $110 million into efforts to reduce hospital readmissions and to prevent hospital-acquired conditions, it says in a release.

“Initiatives like the Partnership for Patients, Accountable Care Organizations, Quality Improvement Organizations, and others have helped reduce hospital readmissions in Medicare by nearly 8 percent between January 2012 and December 2013 — translating into 150,000 fewer readmissions,” CMS stresses in the release.

In other news…

Don’t shoot yourself in the foot on your Medicare claims appeals. “A paper appeal (faxed or mailed) must contain a handwritten or electronic signature of the appellant,” MAC Palmetto GBA notes on its website. “If you are currently typing a name in the signature field, copying and pasting an image of a signature, or submitting a form that contains a copy of a signature, in the near future, Palmetto GBA will be returning those appeals for proper signatures,” the MAC says.

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