Where can we find the new Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) rate for outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS), non-excepted departments? It didn’t seem to be clearly located on the MPFS final rule relative value units (RVU) file. Are we supposed to assume an exact 50% reduction of the OPPS rate?
In several recent reports, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) determined that providers are, on average, variant from expected volumes on both short stay inpatient and long stay observation cases. What was not made clear in the OIG report is the reason why it believes such variances exist. The answer to this question likely rests within the details of how hospitals have adjusted (or not adjusted) to the use and application of “new criteria” in their daily and ongoing Medicare billing compliance processes.
In a provider-based department, when an injection is provided by a registered nurse, is the admin fee billed on the hospital’s UB claim form with the drug or under global billed on the 1500?
This week’s Medicare updates include the April 2017 Update of the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System; the April 2017 Update of the Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System; an National Coverage Analysis for Supervised Exercise Therapy (SET) for Symptomatic Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD); and more!
As OPPS packaging has increased, providers may be less likely to appeal claims for certain denied charges based on medically unlikely edits, since it would not increase payments. However, providers should consider appeals when services are medically necessary and appropriate, as CMS bases future payment rates on accepted claims.
Accurate clinical documentation is the bedrock of the legal medical record, billing, and coding. It is also the most complex and vulnerable part of revenue cycle because independent providers must document according to intricate and sometimes vague rules.
