– American Medical Association Updated May 6, 2020 COVID-19 coding and guidance. New Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) codes have been created that streamline the novel coronavirus testing currently available on the United States market. A revision to code 86318 and addition of two codes are effective April 10, 2020 for use as the industry...
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Why do you need to build your telemedicine practice? Twenty years ago, telehealth was more concept than reality, popular among visionaries but absent from most doctors’ offices. Today, telehealth is a rapidly growing industry changing the way practitioners and patients interact. The technology and the capabilities change almost daily. And then there are the...
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Wondering what your diet will look like in 2020 and beyond? You’ll soon find out, with the 2020-2025 dietary guidelines for Americans slated for release in 2020. Not only are the dietary guidelines a blueprint for a healthy diet, they are also a mechanism to address chronic disease in America, a significant portion of...
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Does your hospital meet all of the Conditions of Participation (COP) for radiology and nuclear medicine? Because of the health risks involved in working with or being treated with these types of equipment or materials, you must strictly follow all of the COP requirements. If not, you’re at risk of deficiencies when—not if—a CMS...
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Two Surprising—But Common—Causes of EMTALA Violations The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) is full of concepts that seem straightforward, so why are EMTALA violations so common for hospitals? Although EMTALA requirements are seemingly simple, they quickly get confusing when they’re applied to real patients in real-life situations. And if a patient or...
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5 Tips for Compliant Copy and Paste Like most healthcare professionals, you’re short on time. That’s no surprise, since many practices must see more patients than ever just to stay afloat. That increased patient volume, plus burdensome documentation requirements, make it tempting to look for shortcuts. One of those shortcuts is the compliant copy...
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Here are three things you should know about the potential changes to Stark law in the CMS-proposed rule. Get familiar with them now, and you’ll have less work to do when the rule is finalized. 3 Major Updates to Stark Law Coming Soon If you’re confused about the best way to stay in compliance...
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When it comes to HIPAA security, are you sure your practice has it right? Many practices think they’ve got HIPAA-Compliance down to a science, but in reality, that’s just not the case. Why? With HIPAA, the devil is truly in the details. Almost all practices know how to guard against obvious HIPAA violations, but...
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The shift towards value-based payment continues to pick up speed, and now, primary care providers have a new value-based payment model to choose from. CMS recently announced two new, voluntary direct contracting pay models that providers can opt into beginning in 2020. These new models will shift approximately 25 percent of Medicare beneficiaries out...
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You already know that privacy is important to your patients. But when it comes to treating substance use disorders, privacy and confidentiality is one of patients’ top concerns. That’s where 42 CFR Part 2 comes in: it goes above and beyond HIPAA to extend special privacy protections to substance use disorder (SUD) patients. Why?...
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