Thursday 16 March 2017

Medical Billing for Medicare

Medicare functions as a single-payer healthcare system that pays insurance companies on behalf of people enrolled in its various programs. It’s up to medical billing officials to submit claims to appropriate MACs for processing after a person has received care covered by their Medicare plan.
Your duties as a medical billing specialist include inputting information from a provider’s superbill into compatible medical billing software. This includes provider information, patient information, information regarding treatment the patient received, and any relevant medical codes. Once you’ve input the necessary information into the medical billing software, you will either print out a CMS-1500 claim form for submission via mail or you will submit another claim form electronically to MAC for processing. As you file claims associated with Medicare, you will need to input medical codes similar to those you would use for Medicaid claim forms including CPT, ICD-9-CM, and place of service codes.
In order to properly understand how to file claims associated with Medicare coverage, consider the separate parts of the Medicare healthcare program.

Part A: medically necessary services

You will process claims associated with Part A of Medicare (medically necessary services) if you’re a medical billing specialist working with hospitals, clinics, and other facilities that offer inpatient care. You file Part A claims on behalf of your provider using the UB-04 medical claim form (also known as the CMS-1450 form). The UB-04 is the uniform institutional provider hardcopy claim form accepted for billing third-party providers. It is also the only hardcopy claim form that CMS accepts from institutional providers such as hospitals or skilled nursing facilities. When filing the UB-04 form, you should note that not all payers are required to complete the same data fields. Do your research to determine what fields are appropriate for each claim.

Part B: preventative care

As a medical billing specialist working for an outpatient healthcare provider, you will usually process claims associated with Part B of Medicare (preventative care). You file Part B claims using the CMS-1500 form, which is the standard claim form used by healthcare providers to billing Medicare carriers.
These forms must be purchased from legitimate sources other than the CMS, like the National Uniform Claim Committee (NUCC), which is responsible for updating and maintaining the CMS-1500. Be sure to check the guidelines for printing and preparing CMS-1500 forms before you process any claims. Note that the CMS-1500 form can also be used to bill some state Medicaid programs.

Parts C and D: to be filed separately

Claims related to Parts C and D of Medicare are relayed through a private insurer and should never be filed through Medicare. You won’t file Medicare claims with Parts C and D because private health plan carriers have agreements with Medicare to receive a certain amount per member every month. Part D of Medicare coverage may change depending on the person receiving care because coverage depends on the drugs involved. Some drugs aren’t covered by Part D at all. Thus claims filed through Parts C and D of Medicare should be treated like any other claim handled through a private health plan carrier.

1 comment:


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