Ambulatory surgery center reimbursement as a percentage of hospital outpatient departments has declined steadily since 2003, with a huge drop between 2003 and 2008, according to the VMG Multi-Specialty ASC Intellimarker 2011 report.
ASC Coding, Billing & Collections
The American Academy of Family Physicians spoke out in opposition to recent current procedural terminology code edits from the National Correct Coding Initiative, saying the edits may affect patients' access to immunizations.
HHS released the final rule for changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's Privacy, Enforcement and Breach Notification Rules, which will take effect in March to address health IT-related issues and increase patient protection, according to AAPC.
CMS issued several tips for mitigating risk during the ICD-10 coding transition.
More St. Louis medical practices are adopting concierge payment policies to deal with the mounting costs of operating off of insurance company reimbursements, according to KSDK.
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The demand for trained medical coders is expected to increase leading up to the ICD-10 transition as the number of coders seeking retirement before the switch increases, according to research from KLAS.
Opposition remains high for ICD-10, and some opponents of the upgraded procedural terminology system have suggested foregoing the code set for the Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine's Clinical Terms, according to ICD-10 Watch.
The New Jersey Hospital Association is in the process of expanding its pilot program for "gainsharing," a system that aligns Medicare payments to help hospitals and physicians work together, according to Healthcare Finance News.
New York University Langone Medical Center selected Accenture to help implement ICD-10.
Irvine, Calif.-based Kareo launched its new electronic health record, a free application available with the company's practice management and billing services or stand-alone.