Category: Revenue Cycle Management

Rural Health Clinic Policies Revised

Rural Health Clinic Policies Revised

  Don’t send another RHC claim until you’ve reviewed these key changes for 2022. A Rural Health Clinic (RHC) is a clinic located in a rural, underserved area with a shortage of primary care providers, personal health services, or both. Medicare pays RHCs for the provision of certain primary care and preventive health services in […]
CMS Proposes Changes to Medicare Advantage and Part D Programs

CMS Proposes Changes to Medicare Advantage and Part D Programs

On January 12, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Contract Year 2023 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs proposed rule, representing CMS’ first major policy proposals for these programs in the Biden Administration. The changes proposed are, overall, modest in scope. In the […]
How The Affordable Care Act Impacted Small Group Coverage Trends

How The Affordable Care Act Impacted Small Group Coverage Trends

Small group coverage did not pursue the trends that many experts anticipated after the Affordable Care Act went into effect. From 2013 to 2020, small group coverage has maintained a fairly stable environment, researchers from the Urban Institute found. The researchers used the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) in order to assess changes […]
Study examines differences in coverage denials for traditional Medicare, MA

Study examines differences in coverage denials for traditional Medicare, MA

Traditional Medicare coverage rules make up the bulk of denied services and spending compared to a Medicare Advantage plan, according to a new study in the latest Health Affairs issue. The study, led by the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University and CVS Health, relied on Medicare Advantage claims that were denied for beneficiaries enrolled with […]
The 2022 OPPS/ASC Final Rule Finalizes 2% Boost in Payment Rates

The 2022 OPPS/ASC Final Rule Finalizes 2% Boost in Payment Rates

CMS dramatically increases financial penalties for noncompliance with hospital price transparency rules. On Nov. 2, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the calendar year (CY) 2022 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System final rule, finalizing payment rates and policy changes affecting Medicare services furnished […]
Telehealth use in Medicare increased 63-fold last year with behavioural health increasing the most

Telehealth use in Medicare increased 63-fold last year with behavioural health increasing the most

The number of beneficiaries in traditional Medicare using telehealth exploded 63-fold in 2020 from 840,000 in 2019 to nearly 52.7 million, a new study found. The study, released Friday (PDF) by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), comes as advocates are pressing to make key flexibilities the federal government enabled at the start […]
Medicare Advantage Plans and the Two-Midnight Rule

Medicare Advantage Plans and the Two-Midnight Rule

Medicare Advantage plans hold up their end of the contract with CMS, and provide, at a minimum, a fair reimbursement for services delivered. The physician advisor is a fast-growing specialty that has evolved into so much more than someone who performs endless chart reviews for observation status determinations, medical necessity reviews, peer-to-peer conversations with payors, […]