One of the fastest and easiest sources of emergency funding available to practices at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic was the Medicare Accelerated and Advanced Payment Program. As we recently reported, the initial timetable called for repayment of those advances to begin 120 days after the advance was made. Repayment was to be accomplished through reduction of Medicare reimbursements otherwise payable to the practice currently, until the full amount of the advance was repaid.
Categories: medicare, medicare reimbursement, cms, radiology, COVID-19
The average cut of 11% in radiology reimbursement that is proposed by the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2021 (MPFS) is the continuation of a trend that spans more than a decade.
Categories: radiology reimbursement, medicare, medicare reimbursement, MPFS, radiology
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released their annual proposal for changes to the Medicare payment system for the coming year. The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Proposed Rule contains not only proposed adjustments to Medicare reimbursement but also proposed changes to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) for 2021 and beyond.
Categories: radiology reimbursement, medicare, medicare reimbursement, cms, radiology
Much has been written about the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and the complex rules for loan forgiveness, but there were other funding sources available early in the public health emergency that need to be revisited now. Our article in April outlined the HHS Grant Funds and another article discussed the Medicare Accelerated & Advance Payments Program.
With the expanded eligibility of the Medicare Accelerated Payment Program, additional entities will now qualify for, essentially, an interest-free loan. Within the CARES Act, physicians and other Medicare Part B Suppliers are now eligible to receive a needed increase to cash flow during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Supplier is a physician or other practitioner that delivers health care services under Medicare, excluding a provider).
This article was updated on
April 14, 2020.
Medicare has temporarily opened up the ability for physicians to provide medical care to patients without the need for them to be in the same physical location. Beginning March 2020 and continuing through the end of the current COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), the rules for providing telehealth services have been relaxed. Is there any opportunity for radiologists to use telemedicine in their practice?
Categories: medicare, medicare reimbursement, cms, teleradiology billing, teleradiology
It’s a cold January here in the northeastern US, so it’s a good time to heat up plans to comply with the Medicare AUC Mandate! We have entered the official Educational and Operations Testing Period of 2020, which means that Medicare is ready to accept the Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) modifiers and G-codes on claims now being submitted. Let’s first review what this Medicare mandate means and then make plans to get it operational in your practice.
Categories: radiology reimbursement, medicare, cms, CDS, AUC
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the annual changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) in its Final Rule that contains not only adjustments to Medicare reimbursement but also revisions to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) for 2020 and beyond. The MPFS Final Rule does not contain very many significant changes for the coming year, especially for radiology, but one of its provisions will have a far-reaching effect on radiology beginning in 2021.
Categories: medicare, medicare reimbursement, cms, MPFS, radiology, QPP, quality measures
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released their annual proposal for changes to the Medicare payment system for the coming year, and they also released new information about the existing mandate for the use of Clinical Decision Support (CDS) beginning in 2020. The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Proposed Rule contains not only proposed adjustments to Medicare reimbursement but also proposed changes to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) for 2020 and beyond.
Categories: medicare, medicare reimbursement, MPFS, Quality Payment Program, radiology, QPP
Read our 2021 IR billing & coding article
Proper coding of physician services is essential to efficient billing and the optimization of reimbursement from payers, including commercial and governmental entities. The CPT® codes issued by the American Medical Association (AMA) to describe physician procedures are supposed to be recognized as standards, but in practice they are not accepted equally by all payers. One example is CPT codes in the range 99241-99255 that describe consultation services. These are most often used by interventional radiologists, as described in our article Coding and Billing Considerations in Interventional Radiology.
Categories: radiology billing, medicare, medicare reimbursement, interventional radiology, radiology, interventional radiology billing
