“Trick or Treat” – Documenting Child EMS Scenarios Little Ghouls and Goblins… Tomorrow is the day the little ghouls and goblins make their rounds to collect more sugar than any parent should ever allow their children to have. It’s almost Halloween! So, what better time than to offer some suggestions...
Additional Cut Looms for Ambulance Industry More Bad News This week saw more bad news for the ambulance industry. Leading economic indicators are pointing to a projected negative Ambulance Inflation Factor for 2016. It is projected that the AIF value in the New Year will decrease Medicare ambulance payments by...
Change! New and Refreshing? Change. The dictionary defines the word as “the act or instance of making or becoming something different” or “an alteration or modification.” Another definition defines change as being “a new or refreshingly different experience.” So if change is new and refreshing, a modification implying that the...
The Bad Apples Ruin the Whole Bunch 1 in 5! Just one week ago, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a nationwide report citing questionable Medicare billing practices by ambulance suppliers, nationwide. The OIG reports that 1 in 5 ambulance providers has...
It’s Finally Here! It seems like forever ago… It seems like forever ago we began talking about this thing called ICD-10. Delay after delay, extension after extension and here we are. Thursday is the day the American healthcare industry has long been anticipating. ICD-10 is finally here! Boil it all...
Introducing the “Z” Codes Fast Approaching! ICD-10 is fast approaching! Come October 1st the healthcare industry begins to use the new diagnosis coding regimen and with that transition the ambulance billing industry will face a new set of rules and billing guidelines to follow including the “Z” codes. Reasons for...
Documenting Non-Emergency Scenarios Post October 1, 2015 Back Again We’re back again in the second part of our look at the guidance provided by Novitas Solutions as published in their future Local Coverage Determination (LCD) slated to begin on October 1, 2015. You’ll recall that we focused on emergency documentation...
Documenting Emergent Scenarios Post October 1 Focus If you’re a regular reader of this space you are aware that we focus A LOT on medical necessity, especially as the definitions contained in the rules pertain to Medicare. With anywhere from 40% to 60% or upward of the average ambulance reimbursements...
Be Proud! Shrinking Pool There’s a shrinking pool of EMS providers. We don’t care where you are located, it’s obvious that fewer of us are doing this EMS thing. Quite frankly, it’s a bit scary. News story after news story, report after report chronicles that our numbers are down and...
Behind on PCRs? Focus! Frustration Frustration reigns in the billing office when there are an x-number of your EMS agency’s runs that have yet to be turned into Patient Care Reports (PCRs) for billing submission. As we think about our own field experiences and we watch our colleagues, we find...
