The Transfer of Power and the Implications for EMS The Election is Over: Now What? Election Day 2020 has come and gone. While the matter is not completely settled in all the races around the country, it seems that we know a few things about the balance of political power in Washington, DC. Leadership in […]
CMS Cost Data Collection Picture Becomes Clearer Puzzle Pieces Line Up! After several weeks of dissecting the upcoming Federal Cost Data Collection mandate, the puzzle pieces of this new requirement are starting to line up to create a picture of what’s to come. We continue to monitor the clarifications as shared by the Centers for […]
Medicare Ground Ambulance Data Collection Q&A Let’s Review We’ve shared in this space as well as our QMC EMS Board and Collar Podcast Series about the proposed rule announcing the Medicare Ground Ambulance Data Collection mandate which begins in 2020. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of what information will be requested to be reported, we […]
Hurricane Dorian Prompts CMS Emergency Efforts Breaking News Literally, as we contribute to this blog space, our fellow Americans in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic States are experiencing the dramatic effects of the monster Hurricane Dorian. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has just issued Medicare Learning Network (MLN) Special Editions (SEs) 19017 (Puerto Rico), […]
Medicare Changes Proposed- Part II- Cost Data Collection Explained 2020 Proposed Rule Welcome to Part II of our blog series featuring the proposed changes to Part B Payment Policies and revisions to Payment Policies under the Physician Fee Schedule. It’s been three weeks since CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) released the proposed rule […]
Medicare Changes Proposed Last Week Big news hit the ambulance industry’s electronic inboxes last week, when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the calendar year 2020 Proposed Rule with revisions to Payment Policies under the Physician Fee Schedule including Other Changes to Part B Payment Policies. Two ambulance industry changes were embedded […]
On Drop Downs and Written Narratives- Connecting the Data in our PCRs “Paint a Picture” We read a lot of communication that point to expectations. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), State agencies and even Commercial Insurance payers bombard our billing office with all kind of communication about what they expect to be […]
New York State Braces for Loss of Reimbursement April 1st When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo presents his administration’s 2019 budget on April 1st, ambulance providers in the Empire State stand to experience a significant loss in reimbursement dollars at a time when making ends meet is as difficult as ever. Cuomo is recommending that […]
Documenting Cardiac Arrests for Billing Challenging Scenarios We’re sure that you’ll agree with us that patient cardiac arrests present the most challenging of scenarios EMS providers encounter in the field. Documenting arrest scenarios also presents challenges following the run. Once we have had time to step back and think about the event, that’s when we […]
CMS Debuts “What’s Covered” App eMedicare Goes Mobile This week Medicare released its latest eMedicare tool and it’s one any person can use on their mobile device. The “What’s Covered” app was launched on January 28th. In a press release posted to CMS.gov and introduced via e-mail to CMS listserv recipients, the app was introduced […]
