American Ambulance Industry Cost Drivers Reported The Other Side of the Equation While this blog typically focuses on incoming revenue and everything ambulance billing, it certainly is a useful exercise to be aware of the costs that drive the American ambulance industry. Ultimately, costs determine our strategies for funding by whatever source in order to […]
Railroad Medicare Releases Results of Ambulance Claim Review The Study A little over a week ago, Palmetto GBA, the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) for the Railroad Medicare program, issued the findings derived from a review of incoming ambulance claims they completed between October and December 2012. Palmetto GBA’s Medical Review (MR) department completed what they […]
Sequestration Update It Happened… Our last blog warned of the possibility that the “Sequester” was going to hit. If you missed that blog, we provided you with information about the government sequester which, at that point, was still being debated in a standoff between Congress and The White House. Well, March came in like a […]
Sequester Could Have Negative Impact on Ambulance Medicare Payments In the News… Congress and President Obama are in the news again over another game of brinksmanship just two months after narrowly avoiding the drop over the “fiscal cliff.” This time the sequestration process threatens to cut Medicare reimbursements. What is Sequestration? For many years there […]
Medical Necessity is a Necessity By Definition Effectively documenting the Medical Necessity of an ambulance transport to support billing has always been a central component of complying with all of the many rules and regulations, as spearheaded by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, a.k.a “The Feds”). Enhanced Management Services has been a […]
Commitment, Education, Resources- 3 Keys to Embracing Technology in EMS Explosion! What a technology explosion we’ve witnessed over the past several years! Literally right before our eyes, that computer wonder that once took massive rooms full of moving parts and whirring discs shrunk to power in the palm of our hands. Anyone who’s been around […]
Ambulance Industry Avoids Fiscal Cliff (For Now) A Sigh of Relief! The ambulance industry avoided its own “Fiscal Cliff” when Congress took final action late New Year’s Day by passing the American Taxpayer Relief Act (H.R. 8), which President Obama quickly signed into law on January 2nd. It was a close one this year. Most […]
MedPAC- A.K.A. Grinch! The ambulance industry now has a Grinch! That Grinch, MedPAC, looks to snatch a Merry Christmas from the EMS industry thanks to recommendations handed up to Congress in November. MedPAC, short for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is the independent Congressional agency that advises Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program. The […]
PCS — Who Can Sign? Signature Focus In our last blog post we visited new rules surrounding repetitive transports and the execution of the Physicians Certification Statement (PCS). This post will primarily focus on how to insure the person signing is correct for the PCS you have obtained. Requirement… Remember Medicare requires that a PCS […]
PCS – Not a Prescription! “Never mimic the PCS . . .” If you’ve ever attended an Enhanced documentation class, you’ll probably remember hearing the caution “Never mimic the PCS in your narrative.” We’ve taught this for years. Now CMS is backing that statement up with their new final rule amending the regulations for schedule, […]
