Florida Dermatology Billing: The Vendor Evaluation Questions That Reveal CO-50 Defense and Mohs Billing Capability

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Choosing a medical billing or RCM vendor for a Florida dermatology practice requires more than comparing collection percentages and monthly fees. Dermatology billing has specialty-specific risks, particularly when a practice performs Mohs micrographic surgery, pathology-related services, biopsies, and other procedures where documentation, medical necessity, coding, and payer policies directly affect reimbursement. One important area to examine is the vendor's ability to prevent and defend CO-50 denials . CARC 50 indicates that a service was considered non-covered because the payer did not determine it to be medically necessary. CMS guidance also shows that CO-50 can be used following medical review when a payer determines that coverage requirements have not been met. For a Florida dermatology practice, the vendor evaluation process should therefore go beyond asking, "How much do you collect?" The better question is: "How do you protect our revenue when a payer challe...

Billing for Surgical Assistants: What you should know?

 

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Surgical Assistants

Practices lose insurance reimbursement by incorrectly billing surgical assistants. In such cases, the major reason for claim denials is to use the wrong modifier/ not use the modifier. In this blog, we tried to cover every aspect of billing for surgical assistants including defining surgical assistants, billing guidelines, reimbursement policies, and accurate use of modifiers. Surgical assistance services can be provided by a Health Care Professional other than a Physician (i.e., Physician Assistants (PA), Nurse Practitioners (NP), or Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) in accordance with the requirements outlined in Medicare Claims Processing Manual Chapter 12. Surgical assistants include co-surgeons, assistant-at-surgery, and team surgeons.

  • Co-Surgeons are defined as two or more surgeons, where the skills of both surgeons are necessary to perform distinct parts of a specific operative procedure. Co-surgery is always performed during the same operative session.
  • An assistant surgeon is defined as a physician who actively assists the operating surgeon. An assistant may be necessary because of the complex nature of the procedure(s) or the patient’s condition. The assistant surgeon is usually trained in the same specialty.
  • An assistant-at-surgery may be a physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or nurse midwife acting under the direct supervision of a physician, where the physician acts as the surgeon and the assistant-at-surgery as an assistant.
  • Under some circumstances, highly complex procedures may require the services of a surgical team, consisting of several physicians, often of different specialties, plus other highly skilled, specially trained personnel, and complex equipment. A physician operating in this setting is referred to as a team surgeon.

To know more about Billing for Surgical Assistants: What you should know? click here: http://bit.ly/3IYPoxY Contact us at info@medicalbillersandcoders.com888-357-3226.

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