Four months after President Obama signed into law a one-year delay in the ICD-10 code switchover, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced a final rule establishing October 1, 2015, as the new ICD-10 compliance date.
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Did you know that patients with traditional Medicare can contact their insurance to have them forward their claim directly to the patient’s secondary insurance carrier? This is a great advantage to all providers because it reduces the time between when Medicare pays and when the patient’s secondary insurance pays on the balance.
The United States Senate has joined the House of Representatives and passed legislation to prevent a 24% cut in physician fee schedule payments from occurring tomorrow (4/1) as previously scheduled. Instead, Medicare physician fee schedule payments will continue to be paid as they have been for the past 3 months. Although the legislation must be signed by the President in order to become effective, the President has indicated that he will sign this legislation once it reaches his desk.
At one time in America, there was no such thing as “health insurance.” Patients negotiated directly with hospitals and doctors, and paid what they could, often on a sliding scale, according to ability. Eventually, health insurance entered the market, easing the burden of healthcare costs. It didn’t take long to realize the ordinary rules of supply and demand would not apply, if the insurance company, not the patient, was responsible for the bill.
Healthcare.gov has gone live, bringing the Health Insurance Marketplace to the fingertips of millions of Americans. This Marketplace, also known as “The Exchange,” is intended to help bring access to care for the uninsured. As it is still in the early stages of implementation the impact on physician practices is not yet known. What is known is that it is believed that more patients will have access to care than before.
While data shows there’s been an uptick in hospital employment for physicians, more than half still work for themselves, an AMA survey finds. The number of physicians in solo practice, however, has dropped.
It was only a short while ago when a visit to the doctor was a face-to-face conversation. The doctor would ask questions. He wasinterested in what I said. He listened to my responses and wediscussed what to do. Itwas a positiveinteraction.In the last year or two,there’s been a shift. Much of my timewith doctors has been spent watchingthem type.
The Origin-TheRFI is short for Request ForInformation. This report was developed over adecade ago to streamline the communicationbetween NCDS and your office staff when billinginformation is incomplete or additionalinformation is required.
The Origin:SEQUESTRATION –Alegal term referring generally to the act of valuable property being taken into custody by an agent of the court and locked away for safekeeping, usually to prevent the property from being disposed of or abused before a dispute over its ownership can be resolved.
hile solo doctors are hearing from all directions that their independent practices are doomed, not all of them are ready to give up yet. Over the course of 2012, the message that solo physician practices are dead was continually in the news. In July, recruiting firm Merritt Hawkins was ready to put the nail in the coffin of solo practice, saying in its annual review of physician recruiting incentives that recruitment of doctors into solo practice settings was nearly nonexistent.