When he worked for a multi-specialty practice, Jonathan M. Greer, MD, FACR, FACP, president, Arthritis and Rheumatology Associates of Palm Beach, and affiliate clinical professor of medicine, Nova Southeastern University, Boynton Beach, Fla., found that there were too many restrictions and controls and no way to enhance the revenue stream for rheumatologists. So he moved on…
The Medical Decision Making (MDM) of an evaluation and management (E/M) visit is one of the three components of determining the level of a patient’s visit. But the MDM can sometimes be the most difficult component, as this is where the provider’s thought process is quantified in deciding the correct level of E/M service. In the…
Take the challenge. CPT: 99213, 96413, 96415 x1, J1745 x 20* ICD-10: M05.09 This encounter is coded as 99213 because: History—The history of present illness is extended. The review of systems is detailed, and two of the three past, family, social history were documented, which makes the history level detailed. Exam—There are four systems examined,…
An 83-year-old established female patient who resides in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) and is diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis with rheumatoid factor in multiple joints returns to the office for her first infliximab infusion. She denies fevers, cough, dyspnea or concurrent illness, but has joint pain and swelling in both elbows and her left wrist….
NEW YORK (Reuters Health—Telemedicine follow up based on patient-reported outcome (PRO) is noninferior to conventional outpatient care for tight control of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with low disease activity or remission, new findings show. “Even though patients in the [telemedicine] follow-up groups requested more acute visits, they over-all had a more than…
In the 2017 Medicare physician fee schedule, the CMS officially activated CPT codes 99358 and 99359 as reimbursable codes for non-face-to-face prolonged services performed in the office or outpatient setting, hospital or nursing facility by physicians or other qualified health practitioners (not clinical staff). The CPT codes are defined as 99358: Prolonged evaluation and management service…
Effective for dates of service on and after July 1, 2017, the National Government Services (NGS), the Medicare administrative contractor for Jurisdictions 6 and K, will require providers in their region to adhere to new evaluation and management (E/M) services expectations for the expanded problem-focused and detailed CPT examination components. The new requirement adds specificity…
Would your patients and practice benefit from an on-site pharmacist? Jessica Farrell, PharmD, says a pharmacist enhances patient education and frees up a rheumatologist’s time, enabling them to see more patients and provide better all-around care…
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Anthem Inc on Wednesday said its plans for selling 2018 Obamacare individual plans are still up in the air because of political and regulatory uncertainty, making it the latest health insurer to say questions about continued funding of government subsidies will affect consumers next year. Anthem, the biggest provider of individual health plans,…
(Reuters Health)—Academic medical centers, increasingly spurned by insurers for being more expensive than community hospitals, appear to have lower death rates for older adults than other facilities, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers reviewed millions of records for patients aged 65 and older and insured by Medicare, the U.S. health program for the elderly. They found…