Medicare | The Strategic Chiropractor

7 Medicare Documentation Errors From Recent Chiropractic Audits

Written by Tom Necela, DC, CPC, CPMA, CCP-P on March 27th, 2012

Topics: Chiropractic Audits, chiropractic documentation, Medicare, Medicare ABN

Medicare has been particularly active lately in attempting to educate chiropractors about errors that we have been making in respect to billing Medicare for chiropractic services. Over the past month or so, several Medicare carriers (Noridian, Palmetto, NGS, etc) have held training sessions, webinars and teleseminars dedicated to reviewing “the rules” for proper chiropractic billing, coding and documentation in Medicare. All told – these carriers represent approximately 50% of US Chiropractors – so it may be worth paying attention to what they are saying.

Below are quotes from the auditors conducting CERT reviews for these carriers as to why services were denied, billing was incorrect or documentation was considered substandard. Read More

12 Things Chiropractors Will Have to Change in 2012 (Part 1)

Written by Tom Necela, DC, CPC, CPMA, CCP-P on January 2nd, 2012

Topics: chiropractic business, chiropractic EHR, chiropractic EMR, EHR / EMR, Medicare, Medicare ABN

This year, there will be some major changes that will definitely need to be tracked along with some trends you definitely want to pay attention to. Here they are… Read More

Medicare States: Mandatory 5010 Conversion Date for Chiropractors Remains, Fines Delayed

Written by Tom Necela, DC, CPC, CPMA, CCP-P on November 21st, 2011

Topics: chiropractic billing, chiropractic business, HIPAA, Medicare

On November 17, 2011, the CMS (Medicare) Office of E-Health Standards and Services (OESS) announced that it will not enforce compliance with the HIPAA 5010 transaction set until March 31, 2012.

Before you get too giddy about the prospect of your office not having to undergo conversion to the 5010 Format for Electronic Claims submission – think again. Read More

2% of Chiropractors Appear Aware of Mandatory Changes — 0% Appear Ready

Written by Tom Necela, DC, CPC, CPMA, CCP-P on September 30th, 2011

Topics: chiropractic billing, chiropractic coding, HIPAA, Medicare, Medicare ABN

I’ve got three news updates for you today – one positive, one negative, one perhaps can go both ways. Read More

Medicare to Release ANOTHER Chiropractic Comparative Billing Report

Written by Tom Necela, DC, CPC, CPMA, CCP-P on September 15th, 2011

Topics: Audits, Chiropractic Audits, Medicare

On September 26, 2011 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will release a national provider Comparative Billing Report (CBR) aimed at the chiropractic profession…again.

No, you are not vicariously having some sort of “senior moment” or bad flashback due to your younger and wilder days. Yes, Medicare did in fact conduct a chiropractic CBR last year (2010). This round is a similar study equivalent to the one distributed last fall except this current study will focus on 2010 data. Read More

The Sudden Rise in Medicare Documentation Requests & Denials for Chiropractic Claims

Written by Tom Necela, DC, CPC, CPMA, CCP-P on August 17th, 2011

Topics: Audits, Billing, Business, Chiropractic Audits, chiropractic billing, chiropractic business, Medicare

The emails have been pouring in, my phone ringing constantly.

So many, MANY chiropractors want to know the same thing:

“Why the sudden increase in Medicare denials?”

“What happened? This past week we got flooded with 67 requests for documentation!”

“Are we doing something wrong? We received over 50 requests for detailed notes in one batch!”

New Rules & Regulations For Chiropractors Anger 39 Healthcare Associations

Written by Tom Necela, DC, CPC, CPMA, CCP-P on June 15th, 2011

Topics: chiropractic business, chiropractic EHR, chiropractic EMR, compliance, Medicare

If you think the pace of all the new rules and regulations is a little too much like a runaway train, you are not alone!

EHR, HIPAA 5010, ICD-10, OIG Compliance, Medicare PRQI, etc, etc

In fact, 39 different healthcare associations have told the Feds to just slow down and quit interfering with our businesses by giving us new hoops to jump through.

Unfortunately, some of us won’t even know what hit us when these new rules go into effect. Some pack fines, others will cripple your cash flow. Still others we should delegate or dump altogether.

While I don’t have the space in this blog to go over every potential rule/regulation affecting chiropractors, here’s the Executive Summary of the ones to pay the most attention to: Read More

What Chiropractic Errors Are Costing You: 2011 Update

Written by Tom Necela, DC, CPC, CPMA, CCP-P on May 17th, 2011

Topics: Chiropractic Audits, chiropractic billing, chiropractic business, chiropractic coding, chiropractic documentation, Medicare

Some of you may get tired of hearing how dangerous errors in your chiropractic billing, coding or documentation practices may be. I certainly have sat through more than my fair share of seminars where it appeared that the main motive of the speaker was to scare you straight. Furthermore, from the data extracted from most chiropractic reviews done by Medicare and other payers, we have ample evidence that we should be more than a bit worried.

Since I am a bottom line fanatic, let’s look at this from another angle: what could chiropractic billing, coding or documentation errors cost you? Obviously, the flip side of this question is, if you do it right, how can sound strategies in this regard help you improve your business? Read More

Maximize Your Chiropractic Income, Minimize Audit Risk WEBINAR!

Written by Tom Necela, DC, CPC, CPMA, CCP-P on February 18th, 2011

Topics: Audits, Billing, Business, Chiropractic Audits, chiropractic billing, chiropractic business, chiropractic coding, chiropractic collections, chiropractic documentation, chiropractic practice management, chiropractic webinars, Coding, Collections, compliance, Documentation, Medicare, webinars

By request, we have taken our popular seminar and brought it into your home/office via WEBINAR! Read More

Chiropractic Seminar Freebies You Missed! And Your Chance to Profit From Them…

Written by Tom Necela, DC, CPC, CPMA, CCP-P on February 10th, 2011

Topics: Audits, Billing, Business, Chiropractic Audits, chiropractic billing, chiropractic business, chiropractic coding, chiropractic collections, chiropractic documentation, chiropractic practice management, Chiropractic Seminars, chiropractic webinars, Coding, Collections, compliance, Documentation, Medicare, seminars, webinars

For those of you who did NOT attend my recent seminars in the Northwest, here are a few items you missed!

For those of you who attended, as promised, here are the specific references and places to go for the information that was not included in your notepacket.

Tom

P.S. If you did NOT attend my recent seminar, be sure to read the bottom of this post for a Special Offer!!

P.S.S. Seminar attendees — I used this picture above to stimulate your memory to…stop giving it all away! Read More

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