INDUSTRY NOTES: Brace Yourself For More Audits Of Debridement Services
Plus: 60 percent of doctors could scale back on Medicare next year.Red alert: Nearly two-thirds of surgical debridement services didn't meet Medicare requirements in 2004. This cost the program approximately $64 million in improper payments, according to a new report from the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG). Problems: Practices billed four out of 10 debridements using a code or modifier that didn't accurately reflect the service the physician provided, the OIG says. And 29 percent of services had either no documentation or not enough documentation to figure out whether the services were medically necessary or properly coded...
To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement.
Keep pace with evolving Medicare regulations — and onboard your team — with timely analysis of critical updates interpreted in an easy-to-follow, easy-to-apply format. Your subscription to TCI's Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement Alert will equip you to navigate code and guideline changes, CCI edits, and revisions to modifiers, payer policies, the fee schedule, OIG target areas, and more.
Current newsletters added each month
Fully searchable archives - over 4200 articles
ALL years/issues back to 2003 organized by year and issue
Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
Code Information pages link back to related articles
Access to this feature is available in the following products: