Practice Management Alert

Question: Were a new surgical practice. Whats the best way to keep track of which services are included in a Medicare global period? How can I determine whether I should bill Medicare separately for a visit, or whether it is covered under the original bill?

Colorado Subscriber  
Answer: In addition to checking the Correct Coding Initiative edits and the current CPT manual on whats included in the global period for the services your practice performs, check your local medical review policies for codes that have bundled services. Over time, as you submit more bills, you will learn what the global periods are for the procedures you perform without double-checking. You should also contact your billing-software vendor to see if your system can be programmed to attach a global period to your surgical CPT codes, or give you a warning message that services you are trying to bill may be within a recent surgical global period.
  You Be the Expert and Reader Questions answered by Kathleen Sharp, CPC, CMM, coding and reimbursement analyst for Valley Health Services in Wilson, Pa.; Catherine A. Brink, president of Healthcare Resource Management Inc. in Spring Lake, N.J.; and Barbara J. Cobuzzi, MBA, CPC, CPC-H, CHBME, president of Cash Flow Solutions in Lakewood, N.J.