Proposed Rule Tightens the Screw for Ambulance Feeling Beat Up? CMS published a proposed rule this week which intends to bolster fraud prevention and also limit certain Medicare privileges we’ve grown accustomed to in the ambulance industry. CMS is inviting comments on the proposal now through June 28, 2013. The American Ambulance Association has committed […]
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” […]
The Crystal Ball— Obamacare and EMS The Beginning of Something Different Over the past year or so, we’ve received questions from our clients about the potential effect of “Obamacare” on the future of Emergency Medical Services in the United States. Frankly, it’s impossible to provide concrete answers to these questions right now, because no one […]
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 […]
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 – 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, […]
Medicare Revalidation – Why? Why? Since the first day that CMS announced the revalidation process for Medicare, we’ve been asked the same question time after time. Why do we have to do this? Well a simple question begs a not so simple answer. We’ll do our best to provide you answers as we see it […]
Medicare Revalidation in Full Swing for Ambulance What is Revalidation? Just about one year ago we blogged concerning the CMS call for Medicare revalidation. CMS mandated at that time for every Medicare provider/supplier to be subject to revalidation. Basically revalidation is like hitting the reset button with Medicare. CMS is requiring that every provider/supplier provide […]
