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Modifier 59

4 Uses of Modifier 59 That Are Appropriate (And 2 That Aren’t)

Whether or not you have a solid understanding of the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) edits, you are likely very familiar with modifier 59 and the X modifiers, which allow you to report two procedures at the same time. What many practices don’t know, however, is that payers are waiting for you to misuse these […]
Published Date: July 26, 2023
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Communication tips

6 Communication Tips for Having Difficult Patient Conversations

You probably don’t like talking about finances with your patients, but you may be surprised to learn that they hate the topic even more than you do. When faced with a difficult billing experience, more than 40% of patients will consider switching practices. This means that smoothing these conversations can not only reduce anxiety among […]
Published Date: July 25, 2023
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Medical collections

6 Steps to Collecting From Patients Before & During Registration

Medical practices leave a startling $125 billion uncollected every year due to poor collections practices. If you think your practice isn’t responsible for even a dollar of that number, you’re probably wrong. Even if you’ve instituted a medical collections overhaul at your practice, it’s likely that some money is being uncollected that you haven’t followed […]
Published Date: July 18, 2023
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Corporate integrity agreement

CIA vs. Exclusions: What to Know About Each Option

If your practice is under investigation by the OIG, there’s a chance you may face penalties and sanctions for whatever wrongdoing the feds find. For some providers, this may mean facing the threat of exclusion from the Medicare program, or entering into a corporate integrity agreement (CIA). You’ll need to have an attorney well-versed in […]
Published Date: July 17, 2023
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Insurance contract

How to Time and Schedule Your Insurance Contract Negotiations

Handling health insurance contract negotiations can give any practice manager a headache. There’s so much to remember, including which terms to avoid, who your contact should be at the payer organization, which rates work best, and much more. Among the issues that many practices struggle with is how often to renegotiate with payer sources. Read […]
Published Date: July 11, 2023
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Split/shared billing rules

3 Ways to Prepare for the Split/Shared Changes Coming Soon

As many practices are aware, the split/​shared billing rules changed earlier this year, and are in for an even bigger overhaul starting January 1st. If your practice is trying to get ahead of the curve, now is a great time to get a handle on what will change in 2024 and what you’ll need to […]
Published Date: July 10, 2023
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HIPAA violations

5 Common Front Desk HIPAA Problems and 5 Ways to Fix Them

Believe it or not, most HIPAA violations occur by accident, due to simple human errors—but that doesn’t mean they don’t qualify as violations. You could be fined if your practice lets a patient’s protected health information (PHI) fall into the wrong hands, whether your staff member did it deliberately or not. To reduce your practice’s […]
Published Date: July 5, 2023
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New icd-10 codes for 2024

Osteoporosis, Parkinson’s Among New ICD-10-CM Codes for 2024

If you’ve been feeling stifled by the lack of specificity among diagnosis codes for conditions like osteoporosis, retinopathy, Parkinson’s disease or congenital malformations, you’re in luck. CMS has released the ICD-10-CM codes for 2024, which will go into effect on Oct. 1, 2023, and they include new codes describing those conditions. There are over 350 […]
Published Date: July 4, 2023
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telehealth

5 Measures for Assessing Risk Among Your Telehealth Claims

Even though you’ve been deeply immersed in the telehealth codes since the pandemic began three years ago, that doesn’t mean you’re coding and billing correctly. In fact, a recent audit showed that every single telehealth claim the government reviewed had errors on it. To avoid the most common issues that the government sees, it’s a […]
Published Date: June 27, 2023
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Service animal

4 Do’s and 6 Don’ts When Addressing Patient Service Animals

When your patient brings a service animal into your practice, they have expectations that you’ll accept their animal in accordance with the Americans With Disabilities Act requirements, as well as state and local laws. However, other patients have expectations as well, and those may not align with seeing animals in your waiting room. To ensure […]
Published Date: June 26, 2023
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