ASC Coding, Billing & Collections

Medical-related bankruptcies spiked significantly from 2002-2007, according to David Himmelstein, professor of public health at City University in New York and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) has announced the launch of a database which provides Medicare payment rates for outpatient procedures, cataract surgeries and MRIs to ambulatory surgery centers and hospitals in each Pennsylvania county.

Hospitals must take steps to curb medical bill inflation if they want to reduce industry costs, according to an L.A. Times report.

In an interview with BC Advantage magazine, AAPC President and CEO Deborah Grider said coders who focus on one specialty might limit themselves in the industry in the coming years.

Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans in seven states are under federal investigation to examine whether they are raising health-insurance premiums through agreements with hospitals that stifle business with rival payors, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

On Oct. 1, 2013, ICD-10-CM (clinical modification) and ICD-10-PCS (procedural coding system) will be implemented into the HIPAA mandated code, increasing the number of codes from around 13,600 under ICD-9 to around 69,000 under ICD-10. Here are four predictions from…

MedDraft Debt Prevention Services, a payment solutions company, has announced the launch of Medicalbillpaid.com, a web portal which enables providers to accept payment from patients online.

Physician practices must start preparing now for the implementation of ICD-10 codes, according to an article published in the March edition of Physicians Practice Options.

Aetna is suing six New Jersey physicians who allegedly filed out-of-network claims for patients admitted to in-network hospitals, according to a report by the Record.

Most experts agree that after the ICD-10 implementation date of Oct. 1, 2013, even well-trained coders will take longer with the new coding system than they did with ICD-9, according to a blog post published by Tom Sullivan in ICD-10Watch.