Flu-Like Symptoms- How to Document? Spring? Spring has sprung…or has it? Given that we just experienced a major east coast winter snow storm just two weeks ago with New England about to get hammered again, it appears that Mother Nature is a bit confused. The Flu! Because Mother Nature is confused we see a lingering […]
A New Age of HIPAA Enforcement – What it Means for EMS by Ryan Stark-Page, Wolfberg & Wirth, LLC (Originally featured in the Zoll Data Blog on March 23, 2017; shared to benefit our clients and readers.) In 2016, the Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) police levied far more penalties than ever before, […]
Sharpening Documentation Skills Using Hands-On Training How will they learn? The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the early church in Rome to encourage the early first-century believers to actively share their faith with others. He used a series of questions to make his point. “But how can they call on him to save them […]
Servanthood- A Tribute to Bill In Tribute We take a detour today from our usual ambulance billing topic to pay tribute to a gentleman giant of EMS. We hope you read on to learn more about this individual who represented the very spirit and mission of what EMS should be all about. The Coal Region […]
What Service is Not Available? Inter-Facility Transfers This week’s blog will focus on inter-facility transports. For the most part we’ll discuss hospital-to-hospital transfers where the patient has been treated at one hospital but must move to a different hospital in most cases for care that is not provided at the facility where they currently are […]
Clear. Clinical. Documentation. CMS Three words with impactful meaning anchor our discussion today. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sets the definition of medical necessity of an ambulance patient that all of us in the ambulance billing industry strictly adhere to. The definition centers on the clinical requirement “where the use of other methods […]
Facilities and Payment- Medicare Rules Destination Facility Our billing office often receives questions from our clients regarding facilities as an origin yet mostly a destination for transport. For the purpose of this discussion we are going to focus on the destination. A facility or institution is defined as a hospital or skilled nursing home as […]
Resources Where They’re Needed A Mini Rant Lately a lot of people are ranting about something. So we hope you’ll indulge us today as we offer up a bit of a mini rant. Those of us who live in the money game of ambulance reimbursement, be it EMS administrator, billing office or provider, have become […]
Sign-In Please! “Will the next mystery guest sign-in please?” Back in the sixties there was this popular TV show that began with this question. The viewer got to see who the celebrity was based on the person’s signature and the contestants had to guess who the person was by asking questions about the person. Signatures in […]
“But we’ve always done it that way!” Don’t walk…run! Probably the most dangerous phrase for an EMS system and especially an ambulance billing program is the phrase… “But we’ve always done it that way!” In today’s world, if your EMS agency is going to be successful and remain insulated from big trouble make a point […]
