The-Power-of-the-Pre-Auth-Email-12-02-2016

The Power of the “Pre-Auth”!

The Power of the “Pre-Auth”! Necessary Evil! The American healthcare picture has increasingly become more complex. The advent of the Affordable Care Act and other changes have ushered in literally thousands of new healthcare insurance coverage options. These options change all the time and each year new plans with new rules and requirements spring up. […]

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New-Stuff-From-Medicare-Blog-11-18-2016

New Stuff From Medicare

New Stuff From Medicare Two Updates Two recent Medicare updates carrying a potential impact on your EMS agency’s cash flow, complete with compliance implications popped up on our radar screen recently. Today’s blog will focus on those two updates. MUEs The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently updated the list of what they call […]

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Its-All-in-the-Timing-Blog-10-28-2016

It’s All in the Timing

It’s All in the Timing Part VI Our “Documentation Review as a Habit” series rolls into Part VI with a discussion about capturing timing in the Patient Care Report’s (PCR’s) documentation. Not only is there an importance placed on documenting the correct date and time of the incident, chronologically, but there is even more importance […]

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Documenting-Causation-for-Illnesses-Blog-10-21-2016

Documenting Causation for Illnesses

Documenting Causation for Illnesses V. Our “Documentation as a Habit” series moves on to Part V this week. In it, we’ll discuss causation or the synonym we use a lot in healthcare terminology, etiology. Last week we talked about mechanism of injury which is basically the trauma part of any causation discussion. This week, we […]

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Mechanism-External-Cause-of-Injuries-Blog-10-14-2016

Mechanism- External Cause of Injuries

Mechanism- External Cause of Injuries Next Thanks for returning for Part IV of the “Documentation as a Habit”  series. This is the fourth week of this series where we have paused to take a look at the need for EMS agencies to be intentional about Patient Care Report documentation reviews. In this series, we lasered in on how […]

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How-Severe-is-Severe-Blog-10-07-2016

How Severe is Severe?

How Severe is Severe? Part III Welcome to Part III of our “Documentation as a Habit” series! Two weeks ago we embarked on this series noting the necessity for EMS agencies to be intentional about Patient Care Report documentation review. The series focused on explaining the coding considerations that every EMS provider must consider when […]

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Documentation-Review-Blog-09-23-2016

Documentation Review as a Habit

Documentation Review as a Habit Put it on the calendar! Because more than ever before, detailed clear clinical documentation in the Patient Care Report (PCR) is critical to the mission, it’s time for every EMS agency to pick a date and time to regularly meet and discuss run sheet documentation. Of course, this blog space is […]

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Costly-EMS-Documentation-Mistakes-Blog-08-12-2016

5 Costly EMS Documentation Mistakes

5 Costly EMS Documentation Mistakes Here are the five EMS documentation mistakes that deny patients coverage they deserve and EMS agencies fair compensation for their services By Steve Johnson One of the most frustrating scenarios for EMS agencies is the denial of coverage for ambulance transport for far too many patients. In the vast majority […]

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Other-Methods-of-Transportation-are-Contraindicated-Blog-08-05-2016

Other Methods of Transportation are Contraindicated

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 […]

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