A few years ago, it was easy to develop a relationship with a Provider Representative working for Medicare. These dedicated individuals were happy to answer all your billing and provider enrollment questions and would help guide you through any changes and implementations that your practice decided to put into play. I cannot tell you how many times I spoke to these great folks and how invaluable their information was. Sadly, my personal contacts at Medicare have all moved forward or retired and it is now much more difficult to make a personal connection with any insurance plan representative. Indeed, many of the larger insurers have networked their Provider Representative units oversees and it sometimes becomes impossible for you to even understand what they are saying, let alone develop any form of professional one on one relationships.
While we are busy running the day to day operations of our practice, changes to procedure coding and reimbursements can slip through the cracks and have a financial impact on our practice that may take some time to correct. I always advise larger practices to assign a staff member to act as a Medicare and insurance liaison in addition to their regular practice responsibilities. This individual would be responsible with keeping up to date on Medicare and commercial insurance changes that can impact your practice. Usually this means downloading and examining the commercial network bulletins along with the Medicare Part B newsletter, which should be a part of each practice routine.
The Medicare Part B newsletter is available online to all providers who electronically bill Medicare for their services. The newsletter lists changes in coding and reimbursement rates, along with physician incentives. The publication will also allow you the opportunity to enroll in Medicare seminars that will cover a broad range of topics to assist the beginner to the expert in optimizing their reimbursements.
Downloading the Part B newsletter will allow the practice to quickly implement changes and to avoid costly billing errors. Those areas that are specific to your practice should be downloaded and reviewed by your billing staff and understood by your professional and clinical teams. While it can be burdensome at times to wade through all the information that is not relevant to your concentration, the Part B newsletter should be reviewed carefully and its examination should be an important part of your practice routine.
The commercial insurance plans also publish newsletters that will provide you with changes to your billing formats as well as updates and important phone numbers and web-sites that will make your claims follow up an easier task. These are also available on line and will help you to understand specific modifiers and any differences in billing that exist between your Medicare and commercial claims. Discussions relating to information in these commercial newsletters should be a part of your monthly billing meeting. Changes should be quickly implemented and deadlines for changes should be noted in cases where appeals may be needed.
Another must have relationship should exist between your practice and The Coding Institute. Since 1947, The Coding Institute has been assisting doctors in developing strategies for a more profitable practice. They offer a variety of products including Specialty Coding Alerts, SuperCoder.com and Audio Education to their enrollees. Their quarterly publications can be specifically tailored to meet the needs of your particular specialty and they will quickly become invaluable additions to maintaining the financial health of your practice. The Coding Institute is currently offering a boot-camp that will assist your practice with solutions to the changes involved in adopting the ICD-10. This one and a half day training course will allow you to master the skills needed to correctly code using ICD-10 CM. You can contact the Coding Institute directly @ 1-800 508-2582 for more information.
While we are busy running the day to day operations of our practice, changes to procedure coding and reimbursements can slip through the cracks and have a financial impact on our practice that may take some time to correct. I always advise larger practices to assign a staff member to act as a Medicare and insurance liaison in addition to their regular practice responsibilities. This individual would be responsible with keeping up to date on Medicare and commercial insurance changes that can impact your practice. Usually this means downloading and examining the commercial network bulletins along with the Medicare Part B newsletter, which should be a part of each practice routine.
The Medicare Part B newsletter is available online to all providers who electronically bill Medicare for their services. The newsletter lists changes in coding and reimbursement rates, along with physician incentives. The publication will also allow you the opportunity to enroll in Medicare seminars that will cover a broad range of topics to assist the beginner to the expert in optimizing their reimbursements.
Downloading the Part B newsletter will allow the practice to quickly implement changes and to avoid costly billing errors. Those areas that are specific to your practice should be downloaded and reviewed by your billing staff and understood by your professional and clinical teams. While it can be burdensome at times to wade through all the information that is not relevant to your concentration, the Part B newsletter should be reviewed carefully and its examination should be an important part of your practice routine.
The commercial insurance plans also publish newsletters that will provide you with changes to your billing formats as well as updates and important phone numbers and web-sites that will make your claims follow up an easier task. These are also available on line and will help you to understand specific modifiers and any differences in billing that exist between your Medicare and commercial claims. Discussions relating to information in these commercial newsletters should be a part of your monthly billing meeting. Changes should be quickly implemented and deadlines for changes should be noted in cases where appeals may be needed.
Another must have relationship should exist between your practice and The Coding Institute. Since 1947, The Coding Institute has been assisting doctors in developing strategies for a more profitable practice. They offer a variety of products including Specialty Coding Alerts, SuperCoder.com and Audio Education to their enrollees. Their quarterly publications can be specifically tailored to meet the needs of your particular specialty and they will quickly become invaluable additions to maintaining the financial health of your practice. The Coding Institute is currently offering a boot-camp that will assist your practice with solutions to the changes involved in adopting the ICD-10. This one and a half day training course will allow you to master the skills needed to correctly code using ICD-10 CM. You can contact the Coding Institute directly @ 1-800 508-2582 for more information.
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