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Reminder: When your office receives a claims denial, look at the claims denial reason on the EOB first. Then contact the insurance carrier for an explanation prior to contacting the IOA Office.
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IME Iowa Health and Wellness Plan  There has been some confusion about whether or not Iowa Health and Wellness Plan members need an referral/authorization from their patient manager to see an optometrist for routine or medical care. PATIENTS DO NOT NEED A REFERRAL TO SEE AN OPTOMETRIST UNDER ANY OF THE PLANS. It is a separate benefit thus no referral needed. Routine coverage is exam only - no hardware. There are no copayments for routine exams and medical office visits with the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan. |
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2014 PQRS Chart
 For satisfactory reporting in 2014, you must report at least 9 measures from 3 different National Quality Strategy (NQS) domains, 50% of the time for each measure. Click here for a link to an overview of the PQRS presentation put on by the AOA in January 2014. For those who do not report PQRS measures in 2014, your Medicare payment will be reduced by 2.0% in 2016. |
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2013 final program year for Medicare eRx incentive program 
Did you know that 2013 was the final program year for participating and reporting in the Medicare Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program? The 6-month 2014 eRx payment adjustment reporting period, which began on January 1, 2013 and ended on June 30, 2013, was the final reporting period to avoid the 2014 eRx payment adjustment. You do not need to report G-codes (G8553) for 2014 eRx events.
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CMS gives EPs an extra month to attest to meaningful use
You have until March 31 - instead of Feb. 28 - to complete your meaningful use attestation for the electronic health records (EHR) incentive program if you're an eligible provider, CMS announced Feb. 7.
No other EHR program deadlines are affected. "This extension will allow more time for providers to submit their meaningful use data and receive an incentive payment for the 2013 program year, as well as avoid the 2015 payment adjustment," CMS says.
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PECOs ordering/referring data claim processing issue resolved
The issue with the ordering/referring data used for the PECOS ordering/referring physician edits that was causing erroneous denials has been corrected as of January 21. If the claim showed the ordering physician name (as this name appears on the CMS ordering/referring provider listing), but the claim received the N265 or N276 messages on the remittance advice, the claim may have denied in error. Noridian will be providing additional details soon about how we will handle claims denied in error.
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CMS-1500 changes you'll notice  Two changes you'll note in the diagnosis code area, which is item 21. The order of the diagnosis codes is now noted by letters and should be listed in priority order with the most applicable diagnosis code in space A. You'll also find room at the top of item 21 for a single ICD indicator. In that space, you'll use the indicator 0 when reporting ICD-9 codes and 9 for reporting ICD-10 codes. |
Newly released code for pupillometry
For the first time, the American Medical Association (AMA) has released a Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code for pupillometry. The code is as follows: 0341T-Quantitative pupillometry with interpretation and report, unilateral or bilateral. Eye care practitioners can begin using this new Category III temporary CPT code on insurance claims immediately. It took effect Jan. 1, 2014.
Read on for the entire article.... |
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Prepare your practice for Stage 1 meaningful use changes  The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced several changes to its Stage 1 Electronic Health Records (EHR) meaningful use program for 2014. If you are participating in this program, prepare for software and recording procedure updates. Read on for the entire article..... |
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Classifieds
We are now including the IOA Classifieds in the ECBC E-Updates! The IOA offers free advertising to its' members. Click on IOA Classifieds under the Quick Links in the right hand column to access equipment for sale, practice(s) for sale and practice opportunities. If you would like to place an ad, please email the information to jillg@iowaoptometry.org. If you have placed an ad previously and you no longer want it posted, please let us know so that we can remove the ad. Thank you!
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New Format
We are trying out a new format to attempt to reduce the size of the email and the amount of time you spend scrolling through it. We will have short snippets about the topic and if there is additional information, we will give you a link to click on.
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