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10 Patient Access Resource Center Ask The Expert Records Displayed

• Observation and post op
  Oct 2007

  Q: When would you start charging observation hours post op if the order is written and the patient meets criteria?

• Hiring a patient access staff member
  Oct 2007

  Q. How many interviews should I conduct when filling a patient access staff position?

• Critical Access Hospitals and Medicare
  Sep 2007

  Q: What do critical access hospitals (CAHs) who have elected Method II have to provide to their fiscal intermediary (FI) to help determine eligibility for the primary care and specialty bonus?

• NPIs
  Sep 2007

  Q: Do medical students, interns, and residents need National Provider Identifiers (NPIs)?

• Scope of new Important Message from Medicare
  Sep 2007

  Q: Do the Important Message from Medicare and the Detailed Notice need to be given to all patients, regardless of the payment source? Do these documents need to be delivered to beneficiaries who have Medicare as a secondary payer? What about those dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid?

• Medicare makes changes to vaccine reimbursements
  Aug 2007

  Q: I heard that CMS is changing the way it reimburses vaccines. Can you provide any additional information?

• Just say no to identity theft
  Aug 2007

  Q: How can I eliminate identify theft or minimize the occurrence at our facility?

• Inpatient procedure billed as outpatient
  Aug 2007

  Q: We recently billed incision of the heart sac (33025) as an outpatient procedure. Medicare denied this claim on the grounds that this procedure is an inpatient-only procedure. What is the best way to handle this?

• Important Message from Medicare Notice: Inpatient transfers
  Aug 2007

  Q: Two hospitals have different Medicare ID (provider) numbers. Patients are transferred from one facility to the other for other inpatient care. Sometimes, patients are returned to the initiating facility, while other times they remain at the second facility to later be discharged or moved to a lower level of care. Does the sending hospital need to issue a follow-up copy of the Important Message from Medicare (IM)? Does the receiving facility need to issue a new IM?

• E-mailing patient information during registration processes
  Jul 2007

  Q: A provider affiliated with or employed by a covered entity would like to e-mail patient demographic information to the covered entity's registration department to expedite the registration process for his patients. Is this HIPAA-compliant?