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  • Medicare Recouping COVID-19 Loans

    COVID-19  

    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently began automatic recoupment of advance payments it made to practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency announced. 

    Get More Information  

  • Medicare Inquiries

    Do you have questions and need quick answers? Contact Novitas Solutions with questions.

    (855) 252-8782
    Mon.-Fri. (8 am-5 pm)

    You can also contact the TMA Knowledge Center at (800) 880-7955.

  • AMA Updates Estimated Medicare Payment Impacts

    Alt Tag  

    Following medicine’s fervent advocacy in late 2021 that convinced Congress to stop almost all of a nearly 10% Medicare physician pay cut for 2022, the American Medical Association has released an updated analysis on Medicare payments by specialty for this year.

    Check Out the Impact Chart  

  • Medicare Lowers Thresholds to Cover Lung Cancer Screening

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    Medicare has announced expanded coverage for lung cancer screening using low-dose, computed tomography (CT), the only recommended screening test for the disease. The federal Medicare agency lowered the starting age for low-dose CT scans, as well as the annual threshold of packs of cigarettes smoked.

    More On the Expanded Access  

  • How Health Plans Are Covering COVID-19 Testing and Treatment

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    Many health insurers in Texas are waiving patient costs associated with COVID-19. Last week in a news release, Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Department of Insurance asked insurers and HMOs to cover testing consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, and telemedicine visits.

    COVID-19 and Health Plans: What's Covered?  

  • Medicare Lab Fee Includes Routine Venipuncture

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    If a patient is a Medicare beneficiary, can you bill Medicare for the routine task of drawing a blood sample? 
    The answer: It depends.

    Get the Details  

  • More Medicare News

    The Latest COVID-19 Relief Bill: Hits and Misses for Medicine
    The third major COVID-19 relief measure includes promising funding for a variety of important health measures in Texas. But there’s also the prospect of a Medicare physician payment cut.

    Medicare 2% Payment Cut Could Be Suspended Through 2021
    Federal lawmakers are moving forward on extending the suspension of the Medicare sequestration, the federal government’s 2% across-the-board payment cut, through the end of the year.

    Support Medicare Payment Parity for Another Year, TMA Tells Lawmakers
    The Texas Medical Association is calling on Texas’ federal lawmakers to support a measure that would prevent Medicare from cutting payments to certain specialties for a year.

    The Low-Down on Looking Up Medicare MBIs
    Now that Medicare has begun replacing patients’ Health Insurance Claim Numbers (HICN) with the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI), you might be wondering how you’ll find those MBIs.

    Can’t Say It Enough: Document, Document, Document
    When Medicare delves into claims errors, one stands out above the rest: insufficient documentation.

    Ten Services You Can Bill Medicare for Separately From a Surgical Procedure
    See which services fall outside “normal,” so you can bill Medicare for them separately from that surgical procedure.

    Ways to Avoid a Medicare Appeal
    Novitas Solutions reports receiving 1.7 million requests per year to correct minor errors or omissions of Medicare claim information. 

    Medicare Revalidation: It Begins Again 
    Medicare provider enrollment revalidation has entered phase two. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has completed its initial round of revalidations under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and will be resuming regular revalidation cycles — for physicians, that generally means revalidation every five years.

    Hospice Certification Form How-to
    Unclear about exactly what information a Medicare hospice certification or recertification form must contain? CMS offers guidance on essential elements the form must have.

  • What could a TMA membership mean for you, your practice, and your patients?

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