Are you Extending Credit to your Patients?
If the patient leaves your office after getting a service without paying you in full at that time you are extending credit to that patient and should be aware of the Federal Truth in Lending Laws. Federal Truth-in-Lending Act All policies and procedures used in collection must conform with both federal and state law, and any [...]
Tricia DiBartolomeo joins HBS as a partner.
After nearly three years of working with Healthcare Billing Solutions (HBS), Tricia DiBartolomeo joins Ann Marie Brunk as a partner in the business. Tricia is very passionate about getting claims paid properly and treating our customers with respect. She is a person of high integrity and is very conscientious of how work is done. For [...]
Interesting News from CMS…
CMS Today issued a proposed rule that would increase rewards paid to Medicare beneficiaries and others whose tips about suspected fraud lead to the recovery of funds. In addition, the rule would allow the agency to deny Medicare enrollment to providers affiliated with any entity that has unpaid Medicare debt; deny enrollment or revoke billing [...]
Co-Pay Collection Policies
During a recent webinar, Roberl Liles of Liles Parker (General Compliance Counsel for the American Medical Billing Association) stated the following: Having a blanket policy to address going after small balances, say $10 or less is a problem. You must not have a policy that says, “XYZ Practice will automatically write off $10 or less balances because it [...]
Mobile Phones and Healthcare….. So What’s the Problem??
I am seeing more and more healthcare providers using their mobile phones to communicate via text with patients and while researching found an article related to this practice and the potential HIPAA violations. Here’s a snippet from that article…. So what’s the problem? Unfortunately, traditional SMS messaging is inherently nonsecure and noncompliant with safety and [...]
HIPAA Changes Require Business Associate Agreement (BAA) Updates
Changes by HHA/OCR under new HIPAA Final Rule implements a number of provisions for HITECH to strengthen privacy and security. This rule expands many of the requirements to business associates of covered entities. Some of the largest breaches reported to HHS have involved business associates. Penalties are increased for noncompliance based on the level of [...]
Make It Easy for Patients to Pay
It starts with the front desk explaining to patients about their charges at the time the appointment is set. You set the tone for payments by training the front office staff on how to teach patients how to comply with your office policies regarding payment. Tell patients your expectations in your policies and your actions. [...]
No More Delays to ICD-10 Implementation
In a Feb. 6, 2013 letter to the AMA, acting CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner made the case for moving forward with ICD-10 with no further delays. She said that many in the healthcare industry are under with the necessary changes and that halting this progress would be costly and burdensome. MGMA estimates adopting ICD-10 would [...]
CMS describes how sequester will be applied to Medicare payments
Unless Congress acts to change the sequester, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will reduce Medicare fee-for-service payments by 2% for service/discharge dates and durable medical equipment/supply dates starting April 1, the agency announced Friday. CMS said it will apply the 2% reduction to all claims after determining coinsurance and any applicable deductible and [...]
ICD-10 Coding Transition
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently posted checklists and timelines to help small hospitals, physician practices and payers transition to ICD-10 for reporting patient diagnoses and inpatient procedures. Under a final rule issued in August, hospitals and other entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act must transition to the ICD-10 [...]
