ASC Coding, Billing & Collections

Medicare is recommending removing 10 procedures from the inpatient-only list in 2023, according to its Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System proposed rule, released July 15.

Four payers have updated their policy for ASC procedures since May 24:

Health insurance company Cigna is delaying the implementation of its modifier 25 policy.

Peninsula Daily News on July 11 released its picks for the top ASC medical billing companies for 2023.

A federal judge rejected the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's bid to dismiss a whistleblower lawsuit against UPMC, its physicians group and its chair of cardiothoracic surgery, NBC affiliate WPXI reported July 7.

CMS has released its Medicare physician fee schedule proposed rule for 2023, which suggests further cuts to physician pay while inflation and the cost of running an independent practice continue to rise.

Here are five recent updates on one of the country's largest insurers: 

A retired orthopedic surgeon in Fresno, Calif., was charged nearly $4,000 more for a cataract surgery at a hospital outpatient department than his wife who received the same procedure at an ASC, Kaiser Health News reported June 27. 

UnitedHealthcare is the largest insurer by revenue, according to a June 2022 Value Penguin report. 

Fifteen Texas physicians will pay a total of $2.83 million to resolve False Claim Act allegations involving kickbacks, the Justice Department said June 28.