Labs soon will have to work harder to merit the maximum allowed Medicare payment for high-throughput tests used to detect SARS-CoV-2. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been paying labs $100 per test — up from $51 — since a public health emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 was declared on March 18, 2020. […]
A new interim final rule with comment period ensures Medicare reimbursement for the administration of a COVID-19 vaccine and provider use of innovative treatments for the novel coronavirus. The rule released last night states that Medicare will pay providers $28.39 for the administration of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine. In the event an approved COVID-19 vaccine requires multiple […]
CMS recently added 11 new services to the Medicare telehealth services list, qualifying the services for Medicare reimbursement through the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). The new telehealth services cover some cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services, as well as certain neurostimulator analysis and programming services. The additions to the Medicare telehealth list were made in […]
Virtual visits are going to be a larger part of health care moving forward and doctors need to embrace it to succeed. The pandemic brought telehealth into the mainstream for many physicians and patients. Usage rates have declined from highs in April, but experts say that telehealth will play a much bigger role in health […]
Practices have been creative during COVID-19 to ensure safe patient access: Telephone visits. Curbside immunizations. Drive-up virus testing. Even checking patients in for their in-office visits while they wait in the car. However, each of these scenarios poses one significant challenge: Collecting copayments and coinsurance. “With COVID-19, you’ve got to find ways to meaningfully engage […]
Clinicians who served more patients with social risk factors such as low income performed worse in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System’s inaugural payment year, and therefore, received unfavorable value-based reimbursement, according to a new study. The study recently published in Health Affairs found that out of 510,020 clinicians participating in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) in […]
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot topic right now. Many people are concerned that AI might replace clinicians or other staff. Some aren’t sure exactly what role AI will really play at all, but most believe it will find a place in their healthcare organizations. According to Optum, 94 percent of survey respondents agreed AI […]
As RPA’s value for revenue cycle continues to be explored, leaders need to go beyond the hype and determine a practical path to innovation that takes into account the organization’s capacity for innovation and the road map that will best take the organization to its desired digital destination. A recent survey shows 15% of healthcare revenue cycle […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that fast, meaningful change is both possible and necessary for healthcare revenue cycles to keep up with a changing world. But to make truly meaningful change within the revenue cycle, the industry will need to embrace even more changes, such as payer partnerships, greater automation, and standardization across payers. Payer-provider […]
Telehealth use has surged during the coronavirus pandemic, with the technology spreading far and fast. Doctors and patients alike must be wondering if this is the beginning of a whole new kind of doctor–patient relationship, one that might totally transform our health care system? Maybe. But I’m not convinced, and Americans may not be either […]