This week’s Medicare updates include several corrections to transmittals issued regarding April 2018 payment system updates, four new resources for those participating in the Quality Payment Program via an alternative payment model, an OIG review of outpatient physical therapy billing, and more!
Preventive care is an essential component of rural health clinic services, but Medicare's coverage and billing rules for these services—including annual exams and vaccines—can be complicated to navigate.
Many hospitals find that their Patient Safety Indicator (PSI) ratios remain high despite doing a spectacular job of addressing these events and exclusions. That may be because they fail to realize that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has a risk-adjustment methodology that predicts each of these PSIs and is dependent upon the documentation and coding of PSI-sensitive risk factors.
CMS instructed Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) to review previously denied 2018 outpatient therapy claims reported with modifier -KX. However, because MACs might not automatically review all denied therapy claims, providers will need to initiate the process.
The pediatric population is at high risk for medication errors in the emergency department, with medication error rates three times higher in pediatric patients than in adult patients, according to a study in Annals of Emergency Medicine.
