The below articles are all published in BC advantage
Magazine and written and contributed by Peggy
Blue, MPH, CPC, CCS-P
Peggy Blue, MPH, CPC, CCS-P Regulatory specialist
at HCPro, Inc
Highlighting the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule
Contained within the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule were a plethora of important provisions that will impact providers in various ways. The following article will highlight some of these significant changes that will take effec...
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CMS issues clarification of E&M policy
By: Peggy Blue, MPH, CPC, CCS-P Since January 1, 2010-when CMS decided to no longer recognize the CPT consult codes for payment (99241-99255)-some E/M coding issues arose that made things a bit more fuzzy.
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Primary Care Practitioners Get a Raise!
Primary care practitioners are getting a raise from Medicare in the form of the Primary Care Incentive Payment (PCIP) program. A provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) allows for an incentive payment to primary care practit...
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New Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) Benefit Explained
ecause preventive services are part and parcel to CMS's initiative to administer the Medicare program in a cost-effective manner, a new benefit called the Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) was rolled out effective January 1, 2011.
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Consultations for Medicare are now a four-letter word - Gone!
While CMS will continue to recognize telehealth consultation G-codes for payment consideration, it stopped recognizing the CPT consult codes effective for dates of service on and after January 1, 2010. The November 25, 2009 edition of the Federal Reg...
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Are changes to physician incident-to services on the horizon?
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently recommended changes for physician incident to services-services billed by physicians but actually performed by nonphysicians-based on findings from a recent study. CMS agreed some of the recommendations,...
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Stay on top of Medicare provider enrollment
Achieving recognition as an eligible provider for Medicare used to be a fairly intensive and laborious process. And because the process of attaining billing privileges depended on the proverbially slow snail mail system, the length of time it took to...
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