Take the CMA Survey About Medicare Audits
The California Medical Association (CMA) has posted a survey to find out how the Medicare audits are affecting physician practices.
On December 3, 2011, CMA President James T. Hay, M.D. sent a letter to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the multitude of medical review records requested of physicians by Palmetto, the Medicare administrative contractor for California. In the letter, Dr. Hay expressed members' concerns about the volume of requests and the tone of the audit letters. In addition, Palmetto is also delaying payment to physicians for claiims associated with the medical records and threatening physicians with further action.
If your office has received requests for medical records from Palmetto, please let us know the impact by taking a moment to complete a brief survey. The results will assist us in our discussion points with CMS.
CMA continues to work with Palmetto and CMS so they understand the burden of locating, copying and mailing off the requested patient records.
Upcoming Webinar on E/M Audits
On January 25, from 12:15 to 2 p.m., CMA is hosting a free member webinar on Medicare E and M Audits. Learn about Evaluation and Management documentation recommendations in light of the development of electronic health records, forms and pre-printed sheets. Attendees will also learn about examples of documentation that were found during recent Palmetto GBA Medicare audits and review, as well as how to select levels of E/M coding based on both CPT guidelines AND reasonable and necessary considerations for the clinical visit. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask individual questions during an extended Q/A time period for answers to unique situations. To register for this special extended webinar, click here.
