Medicare Revalidation – What is it and Why do we do it? “Why do we have to do this?” Five years ago Medicare suppliers and providers received the wonderful gift called Medicare Revalidation. Since that time, our billing office has been asked the same question over and over. “Why do we have to do this?” […]
Congressional Committee Moves Revised Ambulance Relief Bill On 9/11… In a bit of displaced irony, on the very day we remember one of the greatest mass casualty incidents to ever strike the United States, September 11, the House Ways and Means Committee voted out an amendment to alter legislation that brought hope to many of […]
Medicare Add-On Payments- Time is Running Out! Five Months! Five Months have passed since Senators Stabenow, Roberts, Leahy, Collins and Schumer introduced S. 967 entitled the “Medicare Ambulance Access, Fraud Prevention and Reform Act of 2017” and yet the legislation has not passed. Companion bill H.R. 3236 also remains in limbo. What’s worse- the ambulance […]
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 […]
Harvey- A Reminder BLOGGER’S NOTE – today we take a break from our normal focus to say a few words in light of the natural disaster tragedy continuing to unfold in Houston, Texas and surrounding areas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. We hope you’ll take a minute to read and react. Horrific The only […]
Friday Night Lights, EMS and ICD-10 BLOGGER’S COMMENT – Every year, this week in time, we take a minute to review specific documentation tips when treating sports injuries. Let’s hope we never have to use these skills. Have a safe and enjoyable Friday Night Lights! It all Begins Tonight! Our billing office is located in Pennsylvania […]
Compliance Isn’t Easy Being Deliberate If your EMS agency is going to strive to be 100% compliant with all of the rules and regulations that we all have to navigate in the EMS billing arena, then it means that your organizational culture must be deliberate. Compliance isn’t easy. The problem with what we have just […]
Railroad Medicare Cites 32.6% Denial Rate in Widespread Review Here we go again… The Railroad Medicare program, administered by government contractor Palmetto Government Benefits Administrators (Palmetto GBA) has published the results of their latest “widespread review” of BLS Non-Emergency Transports. Here we go again… Continually, our industry is turning in dismal audit results with this […]
Properly Executing the Medicare ABN-Part II Just about one year ago, we used this blog space to publish a two-part series on how to properly execute the Medicare ABN. With the release of this new form, we think it is important to loop back and re-post the series once again this year since there will […]
UPDATE-Properly Executing the Medicare ABN-Part I Misunderstood The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has just announced the release of the revised Advance Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage (ABN). It is important that those of us in the ambulance world who use this form on a regular basis begin to use this version immediately. Just […]
