As healthcare professionals, we are getting good at collecting reams of relevant data, but how can all of that information be leveraged with the right benchmarks, metrics, and best practices to improve your Revenue Cycle Management (RCM)? This blog discusses several proven ways to keep your AR department on track with fewer denials, data, managing aged accounts, reducing uncollectable bad debt, as well as the role of patient advocates when working with lower-income self-pay patients ..read more

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) has been making headway for several years, but it took a devastating COVID-19 pandemic to send RPM and telehealth into overdrive. Providers and vendors alike had to scramble to adjust and expand health platforms and reconfigure the tools necessary to meet the new demands. This blog will discuss the technological steps taken so far, and how technology vendors such as Phillips and SOC Telemed, and insurers as well as CMS are responding to the newest developments, and their impact on telehealth billing and reimbursement ..read more

Medical practice administrators often overlook marketing in favor of RCM and other ongoing concerns. However, unless you have all of the patients you will ever need, you will have to get noticed by prospective patients and others looking for someone in your specialty. For new physicians and other providers, this is especially critical to growing your practice. We will give several proven tips you can use immediately to optimize your online presence and attract new patients and business ..read more

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), colon cancer is the third most common cancer and the second-highest cause of death worldwide, with breast cancer leading cancer among women, for whom those with denser breast tissue present challenges to effective screening. Colon Screenings Improved with Predictive Analytics Models Researchers affiliated with the Regenstrief Institute and US Dept of Veterans Affairs, led by Thomas F. Imperiale, MD, recently created a prediction model that can help determine a person’s risk of precancerous polyps and colon cancer. As a predictive analytic tool ..read more

Medical practices and hospitals spent significant time and resources preparing for and adapting to ICD-10, but in 2019 the World Health Organization announced the new release of the International Classification of Diseases, Eleventh Edition (ICD-11). The good news is that your medical practice has some time to prepare for the changes. Countries may start using ICD-11 on January 1, 2022, although there’s been no decision on when and how the United States will begin implementing ICD-11. While changing to ICD-11 should be far less challenging than the move to ICD-10, it’s still essential to prep ..read more

Social Determinants Of Health (SDOH), is defined by CMS as “the range of environmental, social and economic factors that can impact health outcomes.” According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the conditions in which people work, live, and learn can impact a significant range of health risks and outcomes. Lack of resources, including poverty and distance to health care, can result in poor outcomes for lower-income brackets and other vulnerable populations ..read more

Many medical practices are finding themselves trying to recover financially after the devastating losses that came in 2020 and early 2021 with the COVID-19 pandemic. Practices faced significant volume and revenue losses while protecting their patients from the virus that killed thousands of people. The financial and clinical challenges were tough enough that some practices were left closing their doors ..read more

Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) and Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) Back in December of 2020, the CMS adopted the 2021 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule policies for proposed RTM coding additions that could allow non-physicians, such as physical therapists and nurses, to bill separately from physicians, as well as expand coverage to include certain therapies and procedures now in question. The rule’s intent is to further clarify the CMS’ position on interpreting monitoring requirements, building on earlier RPM guidance from healthcare professionals and telehealth and related organizations ..read more

Since the very first days of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been a variety of CPT code changes to deal with the crisis. Now, there’s been a new update to the CPT code set by the American Medical Association regarding changes to the way that COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots — slated to begin rolling out soon — are billed. Not only do these updates include new CPT codes for the COVID-19 vaccine, but also a new code for a new Pfizer formulation of the vaccine, a formulation that moved to a tris-sucrose buffer in place of the original formulation’s phosphate buffer ..read more

The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule recently came out, and physician groups and individual providers are already calling it a “mixed bag” for practices. While the proposed rule definitely has some good policies in it, there are some concerning ones, too. It’s important to be informed on the coming proposed changes and make your voice heard if your practice has concerns ..read more