Posted on 10/11/2012 8:26:25 AM PDT by grumpygresh
"Medicare's rules for coding and billing for Mid-Level providers are clear, but you need to know where to find these rules."
There is a whole cottage industry of companies devoted to 'Medicare compliance'. The practice of Medicine is being criminalized through complex coding rules that add nothing to the quality of care. If a physician makes a coding error, they could go to prison. Why would a physician take the risk with Medicare patients anymore?
Medicare’s rules for coding and billing for Mid-Level providers (PAs, and NPs) are clear, but you need to know where to find these rules. Again, just because you know Medicare’s rules does that mean you know how to code for and bill for your Mid-Level Providers for Non-Medicare payers. You also need to understand if your state Medicaid follows Medicare rules, or do they have their own unique rules. You also need to know your compliance risks when it comes to utilizing Mid-Level providers.
This information is a must know for any practice utilizing or considering hiring mid-level providers. Compliance risk is great if the complexity of this topic is not fully understood. Join Barbara Cobuzzi, nationally-known speaker and presenter on a 60-minute power packed audio conference to get the loop.
If a physician isn’t smart enough to move his practice to a friendly country or simply refuse all Medicare/Medicaid patients, he is not smart enough to be a doctor.
OH Bullcrap..that is not what the seminar you posted even said.. I deal with this stuff everyday and billing staff make errors every day and they are not sent to prison nor will they ever be on legitimate errors..now medicare fraud that is another animal.
short answer:
Cause eventually they’re gonna yank your license if you don’t (already happening in Massachusetts I hear)
For many of us in geriatric specialties, that would eliminate the vast majority of our patient base. That's not very smart either.
ObamaCare will destroy everything is it’s not stopped. Doctors have been accepting Medicare for years - and will continue if dems don’t destroy health care.
“OH Bullcrap..”
Exactly, that’s what this compliance is all about. My point is that the rules are very complex now and way too much money must be wasted on compliance rules, electronic records, audits. The rules are not easy to find as these compliance companies happily admit, and if a provider unknowingly breaks a rule, bad things will happen. The bureaucracy has become so complex now for Medicare and other agencies that anyone can be found in violation of some law by an over-zealous or even mildly zealous bureaucrat.
But, I guess that will never happen because we can all trust our government.
No shirl, Shylock.
“Cause eventually they’re gonna yank your license if you don’t “
Forcing physicians to take Medicare patients will be circumvented and difficult to enforce. Sure, a physician can technically continue to be a Medicare provider, but it will be difficult to force physicians to actually schedule and see these patients. If the government becomes even more coercive and employs patient informants to snitch on non conforming physicians, the physician will probably see some patients, but the options for the patient wil be limited. In the first place, the government imposes so many preconditions and authorizations that bureaucrats will ensure that nothing will get done. And secondly, physicians can always find a reason not to do an invasive procedure.
If I were a Medicare patient, I would not feel very good about seeing a doctor that really did not want to see me.
If they “yank your license” you work or else, isn’t that very close if not out right slavery. You will work for what we pay you for others or else face the consequences imposed upon you and your family? Reminds me of the sequence of events in Atlas Shrugged.
My brother in law is a doctor and I saw him this last weekend. He told me if they continue to cut medicare/medicaid reimbursement fees he will eventually just stop seeing those patients. To quote him, I am not going to work for zero pay or at a loss, I have bills to pay just like everyone else.
He recently moved out of the state of Minnesota to Virginia because Minnesota had a nice extra 2% tax on doctors incomes in addition to their regular income taxes among other reasons.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.