As physicians enter 2017, there are a number of concerns that will occupy their advocacy efforts for the year. In a survey of more than 65 state and specialty societies, the top issues for 2017 include the nation’s opioid epidemic, Medicaid expansion, private payer reforms, and numerous public health issues. Below are three issues physicians […]
Monitored anesthesia care in routine GI endoscopy has increased within the VHA, but remains low outside of it. This statistic was revealed in a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine. In the letter, Joel H. Rubenstein, MD, MSc, of the department of Veterans Affairs, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, and the department of internal […]
From January 22 to 28, 2017, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) is sponsoring National CRNA Week as a way to honor nurse anesthetists. Learn more with Medical Business Management! What Does a CRNA Do? Most people don’t really know what a nurse anesthetist does. In general, people think that a nurse anesthetist puts […]
After a tense period of debate over the new provider regulations by the Department of Veterans Affairs, on Dec. 14, those regulations were finally amended to allow full practice authority to APRNs employed at VA hospitals. The pain point? CRNAs weren’t included in that ruling. According to the final rule, certified nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, […]
Anesthesia billing can be hard to understand -- and even harder to keep up with. From revenue cycle management to coding, it’s almost inevitable that something will fall through the cracks (unless you hire a third-party company to handle it for you, of course). Here, we’ve broken down the anesthesia billing process into three components […]
When it comes to successful anesthesiology billing, it’s important to collect every bit of revenue possible. Even one missed or overlooked case can result in losing hundreds – if not thousands – of dollars of revenue. And given the high caseload many anesthesiologists face, overlooking a case now and then happens more than you’d think. […]
Running an anesthesia practice means complying with a labyrinth of rules and regulations. There are three related compliance issues that many anesthesiologists have a difficult time abiding by, and all of them have to do with payment. These compliance issues are: Professional courtesy fee waivers Co-payment waivers Discounts for cash payments Many practices encounter these […]
Compliance, for an anesthesia practice, is quite different from other medical practices and specialties – and can even differ within the anesthesia field. Because so much depends on proper compliance, practices need to understand what is required of them when it comes to complying with rigorous documentation requirements. However, many providers – even those with […]
For anesthesia practices participating in the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) from CMS, there are four ways to take part: claims, qualified registries, electronic health records (EHR), and a fourth option known as qualified clinical data registries (QCDRs). Most providers utilize one of the first three methods to submit data to CMS. However, there is […]
In 2015, Congress passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, known as MACRA. Since then, regulators have been working on releasing guidelines and programs governing MACRA, and many of these impact anesthesiologists. Parts of the proposed rule (it hasn’t gone into effect yet) were announced on April 27 and discussed on this blog previously, […]
