Successful Strategies for Avoiding “No New Information” Denials
Unfortunately, one of the most frustrating and common denial responses from carriers are the words “Denial upheld. No new information submitted.” A No-New-Info appeal response is a clear signal that your organization may be submitting form letter appeals without making claim-specific customizations to the appeal letter. Appeal form letters have become routine in the industry…
Persistence Beyond Initial “No” Wins Appeals: Second in our “How I Won My Appeal” series
Medical billing professionals will often give the appeal process one shot. If the argument looks good, they will pursue the Level I appeal. Level II appeals, however, are often not pursued even if the Level I appeal letter was not reviewed carefully and the insurer failed to provide a good explanation for the denial. Many…
Clinical Customizations Win Appeals: First in our “How I Won My Appeal” series
Medical billing professionals work hours developing effective appeal letters. However, often, the success stories which result from this effort go untold. At Appeal Solutions, we love to hear your appeal success stories and now plan to pass them along in an ongoing “How I Won My Appeal” series. As follows is a successful appeal scenario…
Getting Some Legal with Your Medical Review: Indications That Independent Reviews Are Looking Into Clinical And Legal Issues
As medical care and reimbursement rules grow more complex, so does submitting effective appeals. You really need a doctor-lawyer conducting your appeals. But even if you did, does that guarantee your clinical and legal points would be given full consideration? The wide array of professionals currently involved in appeals – from doctors to medical billing…
Can Your Referral Providers Provide Payer Insight Ahead Of Contract Negotiations?
Congratulations, you have a healthcare referral partner. Now you can sit back and watch the waiting room fill up with new patients. Unfortunately, healthcare collaboration is not achieved without planning and communication. Therefore, as you begin a relationship with your referral partner – or even seek to strengthen a long-standing but low-volume referral partnership –…
ICD-10: Key Performance Indicators To Monitor
You feel pretty good about your ICD-10 implementation. Clean claims are getting filed daily and payments are rolling in. However, are you measuring and monitoring your ICD-10 impact or just keeping your fingers crossed? CMS is encouraging practices to be looking at several performance measures to make sure that any impact is quickly identified and…
Prompt Payment Appeals: Saying “What is Taking So Long” in Optimal Wording
Ah, Rejection. You try not to take it personal. After all, you can resubmit. But there is that little step in between that just fails to inspire interest. Research. Yes, the steps in working your claim rejection report look like this: Rejection. Research. Resubmit. However, the chore of working the claims which show up on…
Prompt Payment Appeals: Saying “What is Taking So Long” in Optimal Wording
While some initial reports on ICD-10 claim processing have been favorable, many providers are experiencing payment delays and other revenue cycle challenges related to the coding transition. Both CMS and RelayHealth issued claims processing reports reflecting little change in denial rate metrics. According to the CMS report, denials for October, 2015 were about ten percent…
ICD-10 & Cash Flow: What Denials Are Ahead?
ICD-10 promises to be one of the biggest medical coding updates in memory. Industry forecasters promise clinical documentation shortfalls, staff productivity losses, spotty vendor readiness, claim payment sluggishness and, at the end of this long line of performance pitfalls, we have been advised to expect double-to-triple increases in claim denials. Of course, preparations have been…
ICD-10 Transition: Working With Your Referral Partners on Dual Coding
Don’t wait until the last minute to discuss ICD-10 with your referral partners. A good ICD-10 communication plan includes direct coordination with referral partners. Contacting your referrals partners now will allow you to start building an ICD-10 networking group for sharing information on payer readiness, vendor options and staff training and the information you mine…
