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Confused About Which Date to Use on Medicare Claims? (Part 2)

Mary Pat Whaley, FACMPE

Jan 25, 2019
3 min

Confused About Which Date to Use on Medicare Claims? (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of the information recently published by Medicare on choosing the date of service for claims that are not straightforward due to the service encompassing several dates, or being provided without the patient being present. Cardiovascular Monitoring Services There are many different procedure codes that represent the cardiovascular monitoring services. These can be identified as professional components, technical components, or a combination of the two. Some of t

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Confused About Which Date to Use on Medicare Claims? (Part 1)

Mary Pat Whaley, FACMPE

Jan 25, 2019
2 min

Confused About Which Date to Use on Medicare Claims? (Part 1)

Sometimes it is not clear what date to use when billing a service. The service might be performed over the course of more than one day, or may be provided without a face-to-face encounter. Medicare has recently reiterated which dates are appropriate to use when billing these service exceptions. Radiology Services Typically, radiology services have two separate components: a professional and technical component. These services will have a PC/TC indicator of “1” on the Medicare

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AR Takes Deep Work

Vanessa Higgins

Jan 16, 2019
1 min

AR Takes Deep Work

I came across this New York Times article, How to Actually, Truly Focus on What You're Doing. It talks about distractions and how they can truly interrupt our ability to get our best work done. I am guilty of having too many tabs open on my browser, unable to resist the new email notification. And all too often, it pulls me away from the important work I was doing. At our morning check-in call with staff this morning, I talked with the reps about this. It seems especially

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Excel: A Must-Have Tool in Your Practice Toolbox

Mary Pat Whaley, FACMPE

Dec 18, 2018
2 min

Excel: A Must-Have Tool in Your Practice Toolbox

Excel, or any spreadsheet program should be the go-to tool for any practice owner or manager who is tasked with data analysis. Examples of some of the data that your practice should analyze. What are my net collection percentages by payer? Am I receiving reimbursement at cost plus for any vaccines and injectables I am supplying to patients? Do I know the potential value of a contract offered by a payer or an Independent Physician Association? What is the cost of adding a new

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Ten Questions To Ask Before Starting a New Medical Practice

Mary Pat Whaley, FACMPE

Dec 18, 2018
2 min

Ten Questions To Ask Before Starting a New Medical Practice

Can I go without any income from a new practice for 3-6 months? Do I have another income stream or can I continue to work part-time at a hospital, urgent care, or with another employer while I’m building my practice? Can I envision starting my practice by myself with no staff? Do I have an existing patient base who will be interested in joining my practice? Is the community in which I want to work underserved or overserved in my specialty? Do I have a cash component to my pra

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Getting Paid: Master the CMS Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN)

Mary Pat Whaley, FACMPE

Dec 13, 2018
8 min

Getting Paid: Master the CMS Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN)

One of the most popular topics I’ve written about over the past 10 years, and the one I get the most email on, is the ins and outs of using the Medicare Advance Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage – the ABN – also known as form CMS-R-131. Why is getting an ABN so important? The answer to this question is simple. If you supply a service to a Medicare patient and Medicare does not pay for it, you can only collect payment from the patient if you’ve communicated to the patient what

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What to Do While Waiting for Insurance Plans to Credential You

Mary Pat Whaley, FACMPE

Dec 7, 2018
3 min

What to Do While Waiting for Insurance Plans to Credential You

Credentialing new providers is the definition of Catch-22. You can’t start the process too early as payers won’t accept the application (especially if the physician doesn’t have their malpractice in place), and by the time payers will accept the application to begin credentialing, the provider is already onboard and ready to see patients. Credentialing typically takes 6 months and sometimes longer as insurance plans are not motivated to put more providers on their networks an

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How to Respond to Bad Online Reviews

Mary Pat Whaley, FACMPE

Dec 7, 2018
2 min

How to Respond to Bad Online Reviews

It is important to address every online review – good or bad – publicly, so that others reading the review will know you are responsive to patient communication and concerns. Here’s how to respond. Here are some simple steps to addressing a bad review, potentially resolving the patient’s complaint and showing possible future patients how you deal with patient concerns. Don’t get bent out of shape. As much as we want to think that we do the best we can for every patient, we do

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We Come with a Billing Supervisor (so you don't have to)

Vanessa Higgins

Jul 25, 2018
2 min

We Come with a Billing Supervisor (so you don't have to)

I’ve owned The Billing Department, Inc. for just over 20 years. That feels like a long time to me! It amazes me how much my company has grown and changed over the years. Just when I think I've got it all figured out - bam! Change. But I have found, change often means improvement. Eventually. We’ve made so many changes, throughout the years, to improve the medical billing services we provide to our healthcare clients. One crucial change we've made is how we structure the

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