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Billing for inpatient hospital care.

Pharmacy personnel billing patients for services rendered is discussed. Billing for services is a critical function for maintaining the financial viability of health care institutions. Poor understanding of the system can lead to incorrect documentation, which can result in a claim rejection. The UB-92 provides hospitals with the proper format to request reimbursement for services provided. To ensure proper reimbursement, appropriate coding of International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes for diagnosis, procedures, and services provided is necessary. Ancillary services, such as pharmacy, play a crucial role in the completion of the bill by ensuring that the charge-master accurately represents the service provided. This information includes identification, charge, cost, and revenue codes. Hospital billing agents must also account for any outpatient visits that may have occurred within three days of admission, since these charges may need to be included on the hospital bill. In order for the billing process to be effective, it is important that all personnel have a thorough understanding of the billing process and be able to effectively communicate with each other.

Fees, Pharmaceutical↗

Adverse respiratory events in anesthesia: a closed claims analysis.

Adverse outcomes associated with respiratory events constitute the single largest class of injury in the American Society of Anesthesiology Closed Claims Study (522 of 1541 cases; 34%). Death or brain damage occurred in 85% of cases. The median cost of settlement or jury award was +200,000. Most outcomes (72%) were considered preventable with better monitoring. Three mechanisms of injury accounted for three-fourths of the adverse respiratory events: inadequate ventilation (196; 38%), esophageal intubation (94; 18%), and difficult tracheal intubation (87; 17%). Inadequate ventilation was used to describe claims in which it was evident that insufficient gas exchange had produced the adverse outcome, but it was not possible to identify the exact cause. This group was characterized by the highest proportion of cases in which care was considered substandard (90%). The esophageal intubation group was notable for a recurring diagnostic failure: in 48% of cases where auscultation of breath sounds was performed and documented, this test led to the erroneous conclusion that the endotracheal tube was correctly located in the trachea. Claims for difficult tracheal intubation were distinguished by a comparatively small proportion of cases (36%) in which the outcome was considered preventable with better monitoring. A better understanding of respiratory risks may require investigative protocols that initiate data collection immediately upon the recognition of a critical incident or adverse outcome.

Adolescent↗

Managing liability/recovery programs in health maintenance organizations.

Liability/recovery programs play a major role in attempts by insurers to contain the cost of health care. Because of the controls they have over their organization, HMOs are in an exceptional position to take advantage of the monetary rewards that accompany a liability/recovery program.

Cost Control↗

Evaluation of a focused dental utilization review system.

It has been suggested that the efficiency of claim-based utilization review systems could be improved by focusing on providers with very high utilization rates. This strategy assumes that 1) high utilizers are more likely to be overutilizers, 2) labeling claims (e.g., "high utilizer") do not bias the review, and 3) the claim review process is sufficiently reliable. These issues were studied in prospective dental utilization review system where dentists submit claims and radiographs to an insurance carrier so that they may obtain treatment authorization. A sample of dentists with very high and moderate utilization rates for amalgams, crowns, and bridges were identified and their pretreatment claims containing these services (N = 553) were collected. Half the services from high and moderate utilizer practices were labeled "high utilizer," and the other half were unlabeled. Seven dental consultants from two large insurance carriers independently assessed the appropriateness of the services (approve or deny) from radiographs. The results indicate that services submitted by dentists with high utilization rates were no more likely to be denied than those with moderate rates, labeling claims did not appear to bias the reviewers, and interconsultant agreement levels for denials seldom exceeded 50 per cent. The study suggests that further development of focused review systems requires a better understanding of the association between utilization rates and overutilization and new methods for improving the reliability of reviewers.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗

Health plan switching in anticipation of increased medical care utilization.

We compare rates and days of maternity and nonmaternity hospital admission for the years 1981 through 1984 for three groups of employees and dependents from a large private employer: those continuously enrolled in a fee-for-service (FFS) plan (N = 147,700), those continuously enrolled in a health maintenance organization (HMO) (N = 30,957), and those switching from the FFS plan to the HMO (N = 2,144). The rate of maternity admissions for plan switchers increased by 106% (P < 0.001) in the post-switch year compared with the pre-switch year, while maternity rates for continuing FFS-plan enrollees declined by 12% (P < 0.001) and rates for continuing HMO enrollees remained unchanged. Nonmaternity admission rates for switchers decreased by 19% (P = 0.079), consistent with the expectation that HMOs reduce these rates substantially, while rates for FFS-plan stayers increased 4% (P < 0.001) and those for HMO stayers remained unchanged. We conclude that employees often switch health plans when anticipating increased needs for maternity care and therefore that pre-switch rates of utilization are unreliable measures of the true magnitude of risk selection between HMOs and FFS plans.

California↗

Analysis of private health insurance premium growth rates: 1985-1992.

The rate of increase in health care expenditures has been a central policy concern for well over a decade, yet little empirical research has been conducted to examine expenditure growth rates. This study analyzed health insurance premium growth rates for a selected sample of 95 insured groups over the period 1985 to 1992. During this time, premiums increased by approximately 150% in nominal terms and by 45% in real terms. The observed rate of growth was not constant over time, however. The most rapid growth occurred during the years 1986 to 1989; thereafter, the rate of increase in premiums declined. Multivariate analysis was conducted to assess the effects on premium growth rates of selected variables representing insurance benefit design features, market competitive factors, insurance system factors, and group-specific factors. In addition to the percentage increase in benefit payments, other factors found to affect premium growth rates were health maintenance organization market penetration, deductible level, the coinsurance rate, and state insurance mandates. Further, this analysis suggests that the insurance underwriting cycle may play an important role in influencing insurance premium growth rates. These results support the belief that health maintenance organization induced competition has potential to control the rate of increase in health care costs.

Fees and Charges↗

Does fluoridation reduce the use of dental services among adults?

OBJECTIVES: The authors determine whether prevention influences the use of health services. Fluoridation's effect on restorative dental demand among 972 Washington state employees and spouses, aged 20 to 34 years, in two fluoridated communities and a nonfluoridated community was examined. METHODS: At baseline, adults were interviewed by telephone, and oral assessments were conducted to measure personal characteristics, lifetime exposure to fluoridated water, oral disease, and the quality of restorations. Adults were followed for 2 years to measure dental demand from dental claims. Each adult's baseline and claims data were linked with provider and practice variables collected from the dentist who provided treatment. RESULTS: Relative to adults with no lifetime exposure to fluoridated water, adults drinking fluoridated water for half or more of their lives had less disease at baseline and a lower but nonsignificant probability of receiving a restoration in the follow-up period. In the 2-year follow-up period, however, more than half of the restorations were performed to replace fillings of satisfactory or ideal quality at baseline. When only teeth with decay and unsatisfactory fillings at baseline were considered, adults with high fluoridation exposure had a lower probability of receiving a restoration than adults with no exposure. Market effects also were detected in demand equations; relative to adults in the nonfluoridated community, adults residing in the fluoridated community with a large dentist supply received a greater number of restorations, suggesting potential supplier-induced demand from less disease and fewer patients. CONCLUSIONS: Among adults aged 20 to 34 years with private dental insurance, fluoridation reduces oral disease but may or may not reduce use of restorative services, depending on dentists' clinical decisions.

Adult↗

Avoiding Medicare fraud. Part 1.

In 1997, Congress authorized payments to nurse practitioners (NPs) for Medicare-provided services. NP services are now reimbursed at 85% of the physician fee schedule. As this source of reimbursement was realized, so was a new area of liability for NPs. Failure to follow billing rules can result in payment denial, repayment of fees already paid, mandated educational activities, fines, fraud prosecution, loss of Medicare-billing ability, and loss of employment. Appropriate billing entails adhering to guidelines for selecting procedure codes and proper medical documentation. This article identifies high-risk areas for NPs who bill Medicare and provides resources for accessing additional information.

Forms and Records Control↗

Get a grip on billing and reimbursement.

Managing Medicare outpatient reimbursement has ballooned into a complex, full-time job. Here's an overview of upcoming initiatives that require changes to your financial procedures.

Accounts Payable and Receivable↗