Coloring Between the Lines—Self-Auditing The Basics Remember those days in grade school when you were so worried about coloring between the lines? Staying in compliance with the many ambulance service billing rules and regulations is a lot like that. We all have to “color between the lines.” One of the best ways to get it […]
HIPAA is Still Here! HIPAA Defined Do you remember HIPAA? HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Remember 1996? Bill Clinton was President of the United States, Don Shula retired as the Miami Dolphins head coach, we got socked with a huge blizzard in the eastern United States, and Dolly the […]
Preparing for Dialysis Transport Payment Reductions Last Week In our last blog we provided information regarding the announced 10% payment reduction that is being put in place by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on all BLS Non-Emergency transports to and from dialysis treatments for patients diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). […]
Office and Operations— A Partnership Who’s Driving the Bus? Why do we have so many “slang” terms for the ambulance vehicle in EMS? Where did they all come from? I’m just as guilty as anyone for referring to an ambulance as a truck, unit, squad, rig, and my all-time favorite, “bus!” Using one of these […]
Uncovering Medicaid—The Other Entitlement Not Just Medicare For as long as we’ve been around the ambulance billing scene, everyone has hung on every word that comes from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) pertaining to Medicare. But note the name of the agency . . . it not only contains the word “Medicare” […]
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 […]
President Obama Signs Act Extending Ambulance Bonus Payments President Obama has signed the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 into law. In addition to insuring that thousands of Americans will not be assessed higher payroll deduction taxes for the balance of 2012, most importantly to the ambulance industry it means the […]
Bill to Extend Ambulance Relief Payments for Remainder of 2012 Passes On the coattails… The much anticipated “tax cut” bill has been passed by Congress! Ambulance companies across the United States were holding their collective breath as the temporary Medicare bonus payments of 2% urban, 3% rural and 22.6% super rural were set to once […]
Ambulance Inflation Factor to increase by 2.4% in 2012- Part II If the bonus payments go away… You’ll recall that bonus payments of 2% (urban), 3% (rural) and 22.6% (super-rural) are currently being added to Medicare payments as part of the Medicare Ambulance Relief provisions in the Tax Extenders Act of 2009, which was once […]
Ambulance Inflation Factor to increase by 2.4% in 2012- Part I Determining the adjustment… The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that the Ambulance Inflation Factor (AIF) for 2012 will be set at +2.4% beginning on January 1, 2012. The AIF is arrived at by combining two economic indicators. The Medicare ambulance […]
