ASC Coding, Billing & Collections

Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal notified Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of "most-favored nation" clauses included in many Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield contracts in his state, according to a report in the Hartford Courant.

A federal appeals court has stopped the State of California from cutting Medi-Cal payments to physicians and hospitals by 5 percent, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle.

CPT copyright 2009 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. CPT is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association.Diligent ASC coders always make sure they have the most current information from manuals, coding software, Medicare edits and the like. But…

New Mexico insurers would be required to commit 85 percent of premiums toward actual healthcare services, under provisions of a bill passed by the state legislature, according to a story in New Mexico Business Weekly.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey will implement policy and procedural changes in regard to how services submitted with certain modifiers are reimbursed, effective May 17, according to a report by the American Academy of Professional Coders.

As hospitals and physicians offices become more involved in collecting charges from patients, it helps to understand how many have insurance policies, what their premiums are and what share of the premium they pay. Here the U.S. Agency for Healthcare…

UnitedHealthcare and Aetna have reversed their spinal procedure policies to cover Xtreme Lateral Interbody Fusion, or XLIF, according to news releases from NuVasive, a medical device company focused on developing products for minimally invasive spine surgery.

More markets across the country are dominated by one or two health insurance companies, showing that competition in the industry is decreasing, according to a new study by the American Medical Association.

Whether or not broad-based healthcare reform is enacted in the near future, provider payment reform that encourages integration of healthcare delivery has bipartisan support but faces hurdles, said several speakers at a recent National Health Policy Conference co-sponsored by AcademyHealth…

Anthem of Connecticut, a subsidiary of WellPoint, has offered hospitals a wavier that will allow them to participate in the state-subsidized insurance plan without risk of reduced rates from the insurer, according to a report in American Medical News.