Basics of Worker’s Compensation Worker’s compensation, commonly known as worker’s comp, is a type of insurance that covers the treatment of injuries occurring on the job. Employers typically purchase commercial worker’s comp policies directly, although some states administer these policies. Medical billers must therefore remain aware of the worker’s comp policies for their state, including […]
Providers seeing a 2 percent payment decrease on their Remittance Advice (RA) is due to a mandatory sequestration payment reduction. Claim adjustment reason code (CARC) 253 is used to report the sequestration reduction. The code will appear as a CO 253 on the RA ‘Sequestration-reduction in federal payment’ as the reason. For the Medicare Fee-for-Service […]
Insurance will deny the claim with denial code CO 29 – the time limit for filing has expired, whenever the claims submitted after the time frame. The time limit is calculated from the date service provided. Each insurance carrier has its own guidelines for filing claims in a timely fashion. Some are as short as […]
Credentialing is a systematic approach to the collection and verification of a health care provider’s professional qualifications. The qualifications that are reviewed and verified include, but are not limited to, relevant training, licensure, certification and/or registration to practice in a health care field, and academic background. Insurance credentialing is the process of becoming affiliated with […]
You might have received a denial with claim adjustment reason code (CARC) CO B9. Possible reasons for this denial message could be: The patient is enrolled in Hospice on the date of service Medicare Part B only pays for physician services not related to Hospice condition and not paid under arrangement with Hospice entity Patient’s […]
Medical nutrition therapy (MNT) is a key component of diabetes education and management. MNT is defined as a ‘nutrition-based treatment provided by a registered dietitian nutritionist.’ It includes ‘a nutrition diagnosis as well as therapeutic and counseling services to help manage diabetes. Studies have documented an association between MNT delivered by a registered dietitian and […]
It’s an ideal industry practice that everyone who does medical coding (including physicians who code their own work) should have a periodic audit or ‘peer review’ to assure that their skill levels remain high and accurate. Accurate medical coding has a crucial role in healthcare information management and overall quality of care. Although Medical Billers […]
CMS recently announced that it will provide parity in payment for telephone/audio-only services. Specifically, Medicare payment for the telephone evaluation and management visits would be equivalent to Medicare payment for office/outpatient visits with established patients’ effective March 1, 2020. This means that payment for CPT codes 99441-99443 would increase from a range of about $14-$41 […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on 14th Oct 2020, announced that it has expanded the list of telehealth services that Medicare will pay for during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Medicare will begin paying eligible practitioners for these 11 newly approved telehealth services delivered via telehealth, including certain cardiac rehabilitation and monitoring services. […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made many changes to adapt patient care amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Expanding Medicare coverage to include a range of services through audio-only telehealth visits is one of them. Let’s understand some of the basic coding guidelines for audio-only telephone visits: CPT Code 99441-99443 -audio-only telehealth Code Description […]