The Importance of Building and Maintaining Relationships Beyond EMS More and More… More and more we in EMS are being called upon to interact and develop relationships that go beyond our brothers and sisters in the Fire/EMS arena. It doesn’t matter what level of the organizational chart you serve, we all have a duty to […]
What the “Permanent Doc Fix” Means for EMS Yesterday Yesterday, March 26, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of H.R. 2 to do away with Medicare’s sustainable growth-rate formula and to pass what is commonly known as the permanent doc fix. Uncertainty Remains While the House passed the measure overwhelmingly, there’s still […]
What do I need to do? The Big Question As we talk with people in the industry, administrators and street providers alike, we field this question the most. “What do I need to write/not write in my Patient Care Report?” The companion discussion always centers on… “Can you provide me a “list” of things we […]
Shorter Timelines = Greater Dollar$ The time between… Rising costs and stale reimbursement is causing everyone in the EMS industry to take a long hard look at the bottom line. Today we’ll be focusing on three key parts of the billing timeline. Do you know what the time is that lapses between the incident and […]
The Changing Regulatory EMS Billing Landscape The Landscape Has Changed If you read this space on a regular basis, you know that we frequently discuss the changing regulatory landscape. With Medicare and Medicaid comprising well more than half of all the dollars that flow into many EMS agencies, it’s important that we all understand the […]
Becoming EMS Strong 52 Weeks a Year This year, National Emergency Medical Services week will take on a whole new meaning with focus not only on “the week” but also extending to a year-round campaign that organizers have dubbed with the title “EMS Strong”. Think of it as a campaign to draw attention to America’s […]
Difficulty Breathing in an ICD-10 World Like a Brick We took the time to actually pick up and carry the “ICD-10 Book” the other day. This thing is like a brick. The book could anchor a small boat! ICD-10 is the new version of the International Classification of Diseases. This is a system of codes […]
When Compassion and Compliance Collide New initiatives By now many of you, especially those of you who provide scheduled, routine, non-emergency transports (ie. Dialysis, radiation, etc.) are becoming aware of a new Medicare trial initiative for pre-authorizing approval for claims submitted for these types of transports. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) chose […]
The Puzzle EMS Billing Has Become The missing piece… Have you ever put together a puzzle and found near the end that you are missing a piece or two? It’s frustrating; isn’t it? You have just enough of the pieces put together that you can see the picture you are creating and yet those key […]
Documentation Skills and the Long-Time EMS Provider New Tricks You’ve heard the phrase; “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Well that may be true about canines, but it certainly isn’t the case with us humans. It’s especially not the case with EMS providers. Long-time EMS providers should have learned a long time ago […]
