February 15th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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It’s an age-old problem, made more complicated by our new era of electronic medical records: optimizing collections in a time of unprecedented price pressures on our health care complex. With the economic downturn and declining government payments for services, everyone in health care is feeling the pinch.
It is no secret that work not billed will ultimately be work not paid. Hospitals and practice managers, adept at business principles, know this. Deep down inside, doctors know this, too. Historically, doctors dictated when they billed their patients, even if it meant waiting over a week to do so. If a doctor was to take a vacation, some of those billings could wait until his return.
Not so any longer. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
November 2nd, 2009 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Humor
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PLACE OF OCCURRENCE, HOME ICD-E849.0
6:00 AM
Alarm goes off. Hit snooze button. CIRCADIAN RHYTHM SLEEP D/O IRREG SLEEPWAKE TYPE ICD-327.33
6:30
- Alarm goes off for third time. Ready to hit snooze button, but knee in ribs from wife prevents more snooze button procrastination. CONTUSION OF CHEST WALL ICD-922.1, ADULT MALTREATMENT UNSPECIFIED NEC ICD-995.8
- Feeling tired, go to make a pot of coffee. CAFFEINE ADDICTION ICD-304.40
- Fill bowl with Lucky Charms and start eating. UNSPECIFIED NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCY ICD-269.9, HYPERGLYCEMIA ICD-790.29
6:45
- Realize that coffee pot needs to be turned on for it to make coffee. ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER, ADULT ICD-314.00, LISTLESSNESS ICD-780.79
Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
October 14th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Humor
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Imagine if lawyers had to bill like doctors:
Beginning July 1, 2010, under the Legal Billing Obfuscation Act of 2009, lawyers will receive their payments for services rendered after approval by a central US government Payment Distribution Authority (USPDA). To receive payment from the Authority plaintiff and defendant complaints must be coded and filed electronically using the International Classification of Legal Complaints, 10th edition (ICLD-10), copyright © 2009, American Bar Association and Legal Proceeding Terminology (LPT) codes, copyright © 2009 American Bar Association. The full publication of each of these codes will be available in print March 1st 2010 and in electronic form on DVD in July 2011.
To familiarize lawyers with the new coding scheme requested by the USPDA, a small sample for the complaint of “Spilling” is shown below: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
May 16th, 2009 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network
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Why paying for health care is so difficult:
a gigantic, complex raft of billing codes which are seemingly designed to haunt you in your sleep. With thousands of codes, and with frequent revisions to the fee schedule, it’s difficult to imagine a bureaucratic system. . . more challenging to decipher.
American health care? No, Canadian.
Some problems are inherent to health care, regardless of who pays for it.
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
