Accelerated Medical Practice Blog

On April 20, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a report explaining the use of the KX modifier. Seen most often with physical and occupational therapy billing, providers add a KX modifier to CPT® or HCPCS codes in order to show there is documentation on file justifying the need for that procedure, service, or supply, and the documentation meets Medicare coverage criteria. Of the claim samples reviewed, the OIG found less than 50 percent of...

Many medical coding solutions and claim scrubbers promise a way to recover the savings from automating the charge entry process when using an EMR template. When looking for a solution, realize the ideal solution should not be an afterthought or one feature on a list of a hundred features. A coding solution should be carefully examined to determine: What types of rules does it include When are these rules applied Who reviews these errors and makes...

Providers are fighting to be reimbursed for every dollar. Getting reimbursed properly requires back office staffs to diligently pay attention to changes in payor rules.

When you look at the typical project plan for an EMR implementation, the clinical components are typically the focal point: template selection and customization, physician training, clinical workflow, etc. Automating the charge capture and coding elements are usually placed at the bottom of the work list and may never be fully implemented. This gap in implementation planning often results in practices being forced to produce costly, manual workarounds as needed. This is a dangerous financial hazard...

When many EMRs were originally designed, charge capture and coding was not a major design objective. As an ancillary feature and benefit of EMRs—untested in the real world—that EMRs could replace the superbill began to appear in sales presentations. 

"Mind the gap" is a warning for passengers to take caution while crossing the gap between the train door and the railway platform. Introduced in 1969 on the London Underground, this warning also serves physician practices well as they pursue the important goal of implementing an electronic medical record (EMR). 

As you prepare for the ICD-10 changeover on October 1, 2013, what will you do with your paper superbill?

Every year, physicians start to sweat when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) releases the final rule on the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) reflecting the financial impact the Standard Growth Rate (SGR) adjustment will have on their business in the upcoming year. 

The American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have announced over 430 changes will be present in the 2012 HPCS II Code Books. Many medical practices can now begin to revise their encounter forms in preparation for 2012. 

White Plume Technologies stays abreast of ongoing changes in medical coding policies from customers. The new requirements for coding glaucoma will impact many of our Ophthalmology customers. 

White Plume's code scrubbing capabilities came to the rescue for an orthopedic practice.