Why Texas Hospitalist Practices Face Rising AR Aging Problems – 12 Hidden Revenue Risks Hurting Cash Flow in 2026

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  Introduction: Why AR Aging Is Becoming a Major Hospitalist Concern Why Texas hospitalist practices face rising AR aging problems has become a growing concern in 2026 as providers experience increasing reimbursement delays, claim denials, and payer scrutiny. Hospitalist practices manage high-acuity patient care, complex inpatient documentation, ICU billing, and frequent care transitions, making revenue cycle management more difficult than ever. Texas has a highly competitive and complicated payer environment that includes Medicare, Medicaid managed care organizations, and multiple commercial insurers. Each payer applies different billing rules, documentation standards, and medical necessity requirements. Even small coding or documentation mistakes can delay reimbursement for months. Without specialized hospitalist billing services and advanced medical billing services , many practices struggle with growing accounts receivable balances, declining collections, and unstable cash...
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Basics of Medicare Consolidated Billing for SNFs

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Need for Consolidated Billing for SNFs

Prior to the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA), a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) could elect to furnish services to a resident in a covered Part A stay, either, directly using its own resources; through the SNF's transfer agreement hospital; or under arrangements with an independent therapist (for physical, occupational, and speech therapy services). In each of these circumstances, the SNF billed Medicare Part A for the services.

However, the SNF also had the further option of ‘unbundling’ a service altogether; that is, the SNF could permit an outside supplier to furnish the service directly to the resident, and the outside supplier would submit a bill to Medicare Part B, without any involvement of the SNF itself.

This practice created several problems, including the following:

  • Potential for duplicate (Parts A/B) billing if both the SNF and outside supplier billed;
  • An increased out-of-pocket liability incurred by the beneficiary for the Part B deductible and coinsurance even if only the supplier billed; and
  • A dispersal of responsibility for resident care among various outside suppliers adversely affected quality (coordination of care) and program integrity

Then Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA), was enacted, containing a Consolidated Billing (CB) requirement for SNFs. Under the CB requirement, an SNF itself must submit all Medicare claims for the services that its residents receive. Conceptually, SNF CB resembles the bundling requirement for inpatient hospital services that's been in effect since the early 1980s, assigning to the facility itself the Medicare billing responsibility for virtually the entire package of services that a facility resident receives, except for certain services that are specifically excluded.

To get more information about Medicare Consolidated Billing for SNFs click here: https://bit.ly/3vmPAjQ. Get in touch with us at: info@medicalbillersandcoders.com/ 888-357-3226.

Location: United States

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