Balance Billing and Air Medical Transport Part Two Welcome to Part Two of our blog series Balance Billing and Air Medical Transport. Last week, we looked at the historical aspect and defined the issue at hand. This week, we peer into the public perception, regulatory consequences, and make some suggestions on how to navigate the […]
Medicare Prior Authorization- Part II- Impact! Welcome! Thanks for stopping by for Part II of our blog recap of the findings from the recently published interim evaluation report on Medicare Prior Authorization. Last week, we capsulized the findings as published by government contractor Mathematica Policy Research. This week, we will briefly take a look at […]
Other Methods of Transportation are Contraindicated Medical Necessity Defined We talk a lot about Medical Necessity in the ambulance billing office. Medical necessity and Reasonableness are key in determining whether or not an insurance payer is obligated to pay for ambulance transport, especially for Medicare and Medicaid patients. Title XVIII of the Social Security Act […]
Cost Data Collection on the Horizon for EMS Reality Time When the Philadelphia Eagles won their very first Super Bowl two weeks ago, the City of Brotherly Love went giddy wild. There were light poles to climb, banners to wave and confetti to throw. Then…it was reality time. All that confetti had to be cleaned-up, […]
Medicare vs Medicaid- What’s the Difference? Interchangeable? It seems that often EMS people like to interchange the words Medicare and Medicaid. While similar in scope, the reality is these programs are two uniquely different government offerings. We thought it would be helpful to define the two programs and call attention to their similarities and differences. […]
Winter Flu Season- How to Document? Holidays Behind Us…Enter Flu Season We trust that you had a wonderful holiday season filled with many WARM memories (and we emphasize WARM!) We’re back to our normal routine so let’s dig into a direct documentation topic…. How to document transports that are initiated either directly or indirectly due […]
Medicare Bonus Payments Expire- What’s Next? December 31, 2017, 2359 Hours… When the New Years ball begins its drop in New York City on December 31, 2017 at 2359 hours, so will the Medicare Fee Schedule Bonus Payments drop. Those of you who operate in urban zip codes will see 2% less, rural zip codes […]
Mixing Business and Billing: EMS Documentation Impact on Billing and Reimbursement Periodically we re-post useful information authored by those we respect in the industry. Recently, Dan Pedersen of Page, Wolfberg and Wirth (www.pwwemslaw.com) shared this excellent posting on EMS1.com. The post is filled with great information regarding EMS documentation and its impact on billing and reimbursement. We […]
Dissecting “The Misunderstoods”- Part II- Billing for SCT Bloggers note- early last year we posted a popular 2-part series talking about a subject we affectionately called “The Misunderstoods.” Because we periodically field questions about these two levels of service and the complexity of documenting properly to obtain maximum reimbursement, we’re offering up the series again […]
Dissecting “The Misunderstoods”- Part I- Billing for ALS 2 Bloggers note- early last year we posted a popular 2-part series talking about a subject we affectionately called “The Misunderstoods.” Because we periodically field questions about these two levels of service and the complexity of documenting properly to obtain maximum reimbursement, we’re offering up the series […]
