Welcome to the second edition of our newsletter!
We want to wish you a very warm Happy Holidays and an exciting New Year from our corporate office in South Florida.
Our group is very excited because we have been working diligently to create tools to make your operations work more efficiently and smarter. And now, we're ready to release them!
Please check out the articles below to learn more.
You can find an archive of our newsletters by going to:
www.omegatechnologysolutions.com/Newsletters.htm
On that same page, you can access our FAQ Blog. Send us questions, and we'll get you the answers. Please, check it out!
Speaking of questions, here's the question of the day:
Where is the exact center of the United States? |
CPT Update Alert for January 1, 2009
Of the more than 290 CPT code additions for 2009 there are 36 additional Surgery section codes and 67 new Medicine section codes. The following is a summary of the code changes that could greatly affect hospital compliance and reimbursement. Hospitals should pay special attention to the following areas:
- Digestive-There is an entire range of new laparoscopic hernia repair codes, 49652-49657.
- Male-Codes 52606, 52612, 52614 and 52620 have been deleted and code 52630 has been changed extensively.
- Neurology-The AMA has created a new stereotactic radiosurgery section and code range, 61796-61800 and added extensive new guidelines.
- Radiology-Brachytherapy codes 77781-77784 have been deleted; three new codes have been added 77785, 77786, 77787.
- Pathology-Code 88400 was deleted and code 88720 should be reported instead.
- Medicine- The injection and infusion codes from 2008 have been deleted and will crosswalk to a new number series; 96360-96361, 96365-96379. In addition, the guidelines now contain an important clarification: For physician reporting, the "initial" code should be the code that best describes the primary reason for the encounter; however for facility coding, the CPT/AMA hierarchy applies. The hierarchy states the following:
- Chemotherapy services are primary to therapeutic, prophylactic and diagnostic services
- Infusions are primary to injections
- Any IV push/infusion of a therapeutic substance is primary to hydration
Hospitals should review their chargemasters for all the upcoming CPT/HCPCS code changes that will be effective January 1, 2009.
If you need help, please contact us and we can introduce you to our WebCDM product which will handle the above issues and more. |
Find out more about ChargeMaster... |
Electronic Billing at Omega
We recently instituted electronic billing at our corporate office and have seen a vast improvement in the turnaround time for payments. During the process, we have learned a lot as well.
One of the lessons we learned with electronic billing concerns the "reason for visit". Since the inception of the UB04, the "reason for visit" is a required field on both the UB04 and on the 837i files. In the old days, this was not a requirement. Depending on the clearinghouse you are using, this may change, but right now it is an EDI requirement to have the reason for visit on the claim.
If you are receiving any denials from your insurance companies, you might want to look at those fields.
Along with electronic billing, Omega Technology Solutions is in the process of instituting eligibility inquiries. Be on the lookout for future releases of this newsletter with updated information. | |
OCExaminer
Omega Claims Examiner is one of the new tools we have created. This system has numerous edits we have built to look for deficiencies on claims. In addition, it comes to you through the web so there is no installation or additional cost of equipment. If you have access to the internet, you can get to our secure server where the application resides.
All you do is upload a batch of claims to our server. OCE will analyze the data and provide you with a report of good and bad claims. If you like, we can submit the good claims electronically on your behalf, and the bad claims can be worked with our interactive claims screen.
This screen was specially designed with hospital personnel in mind. The user can read the edit error and then move to the boxes on the screen to update/correct the data. The system will analyze multiple edits at the same time, so you get all of the errors the first time around.
We strive to provide solutions that make life easier for the user while improving your daily operations. With Omega Technology Solutions you can have one vendor handling multiple Revenue Cycle tasks, allowing you to concentrate on other important areas of your business.
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Thanks for your time!
Sincerely,
Ann Fierro, RN, CPA, MBA
President and News Editor
Omega Technology Solutions |
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| Thanks to Everyone! |
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We want to thank everyone of you who took the time to answer the surveys sent out by HFMA. We are so proud to have earned this prestigious designation!
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Putting the Pieces Together | |
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