News & Analysis

August 21, 2019
News & Insights

CMS’ Hospital Outpatient Payment (HOP) panel made numerous recommendations at its annual meeting August 19 for the agency to consider ahead of the release of the 2020 OPPS final rule—with the panel and other stakeholders urging CMS to be more transparent with its responses and release of data.

August 1, 2019
Briefings on APCs

Behavioral health is a highly specialized area of coding that many coders and billers are unfamiliar with. There are hundreds of ICD-10-CM codes for mental disorders with unique characters to specify symptoms and complications.

August 1, 2019
Briefings on APCs

Even if a hospital is not a teaching hospital, it may have services that require National Clinical Trial (NCT) reporting. It is logical for revenue integrity leadership to own this issue, but an explanation of the requirements for NCT reporting should be shared with all staff within the revenue cycle so there is a better appreciation of the fact that clinical trial billing rules apply more broadly than merely just to research or clinical trial studies.

July 30, 2019
News & Insights

CMS released the 2020 OPPS proposed rule July 29, proposing to refine previous policies related to price transparency and the 2-midnight rule, while also asking for comments on how to potentially undo its policy that reduced payments for drugs purchased under the 340B drug discount program by nearly 30%.

July 1, 2019
Briefings on APCs

ED physicians commonly treat fractures. A fracture can be the result of a traumatic injury, such as a fall, or may be pathologic (i.e., due to a disease process). In general, fractures can be classified as open or closed, displaced or nondisplaced.

July 1, 2019
Briefings on APCs

Before starting an ambulatory or outpatient CDI program, those tasked with the project must first create some universal definitions so everyone is on the same page and speaking the same language.

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