In the current healthcare climate, the issue of medical necessity documentation, or lack thereof, is one of the most common reasons for claim denials. For a service to be considered medically necessary (by a third-party payer), it must be considered a reasonable and necessary service to diagnose and/or treat a patient’s current and/or chronic medical condition.
In advance of ICD-10-CM/PCS, many institutions implemented computer-assisted coding (CAC) hoping to mitigate the anticipated productivity losses, but research has confirmed suspicions that there is an inverse relationship between coding productivity and accuracy.
CMS, the Veterans Health Administration, and some states measure our care quality based on risk-adjusted readmission rates after inpatient admissions. In fact, up to 3% of our hospital’s Medicare inpatient revenue (used to pay physician subsidies) is at risk if we don’t manage our patients’ readmissions in concert with Medicare’s algorithms.
This week’s Medicare updates include a list of new topics proposed for recovery audit contractor review, a final decision memo on a cardiology device NCD, a diagnosis code update for add-on payments for a blood clotting factor, and more!
This week’s Medicare updates include a fact sheet on the transition to new Medicare cards, a table to clarify alternative payment models’ statuses in the Quality Payment Program, a review of a health system’s compliance with inpatient rehabilitation facility service billing requirements, and more!
