Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The National Uniform Billing Committee (NUBC) is the governing body for forms and codes use in medical claims billing in the United States for institutional providers like hospitals, nursing homes, hospice, home health agencies, and other providers. The NUBC was formed by the American Hospital Association (AHA) in 1975. [3]
It is necessary for most users of the CPT code (principally providers of services) to pay license fees for access to the code. [19] In the past, AMA offered a limited search of the CPT manual for personal, non-commercial use on its web site. [20] CPT codes can be looked up on the AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders) website. [21]
For example, in 2005, a generic 99213 Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code was worth 1.39 Relative Value Units, or RVUs. Adjusted for North Jersey, it was worth 1.57 RVUs. Using the 2005 Conversion Factor of $37.90, Medicare paid 1.57 * $37.90 for each 99213 performed, or $59.50.
Before RVUs were used, Medicare paid for physician services using "usual, customary and reasonable" rate-setting which led to payment variability. [2]The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 enacted a Medicare fee schedule, and as of 2010 about 7,000 distinct physician services were listed. [2]
HCPCS includes three levels of codes: Level I consists of the American Medical Association's Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) and is numeric.; Level II codes are alphanumeric and primarily include non-physician services such as ambulance services and prosthetic devices, and represent items and supplies and non-physician services, not covered by CPT-4 codes (Level I).
[citation needed] Ultimate responsibility for ensuring accuracy of the chargemaster rests with each hospital's chief financial officer, [12] compliance officer, and hospital Board. [citation needed] Approximately forty percent of hospitals pay outside companies to help create and then adapt their chargemasters on a yearly basis. [11]
And despite technology that reduced the time required for the surgery by a factor of 4 to 6, costs did not decrease. [ 2 ] The US government healthcare website defines usual, customary and reasonable as being "The amount paid for a medical service in a geographic area based on what providers in the area usually charge for the same or similar ...
APCs or Ambulatory Payment Classifications are the United States government's method of paying for facility outpatient services for the Medicare (United States) program. A part of the Federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997 made the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services create a new Medicare "Outpatient Prospective Payment System" (OPPS) for hospital outpatient services -analogous to the ...