Community Practice Rheumatology Is Challenging, But Rewarding, Too
Community practice rheumatology may be a less-followed path within the specialty, and it brings with it certain challenges. However, it also offers rewards, such as autonomy and deep relationships with patients. The Rheumatologist recently interviewed three community practice rheumatologists from around the U.S. to find out about their approaches to patient management, staffing and other... (Source: The Rheumatologist)
Source: The Rheumatologist - January 10, 2024 Category: Rheumatology Authors: Vanessa Caceres Tags: Billing/Coding Practice Support Technology Workforce Advanced Practice Clinicians community practice prior authorization staffing telemedicine Source Type: research
Trends in Billing Secure Messages as E-Visits
This study assesses US trends in e-visit billing using national all-payer claims. (Source: JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association)
Source: JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association - January 10, 2024 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
2024 Remote Physiologic Monitoring and Therapeutic Monitoring Coding Guidance
This guidance from the ACR provides information about new remote physiologic monitoring (RPM) and remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) treatment management codes (Source: The Rheumatologist)
Source: The Rheumatologist - January 9, 2024 Category: Rheumatology Authors: From the College Tags: Billing/Coding telehealth Source Type: research
UnitedHealthcare Working to Correct J Code Reimbursement Error
An error in UnitedHealthcare's claims processing system resulted in underpayments on J code claims dated Oct. 8–Nov. 8, 2023. Practices are encouraged to review all J code payments from the final quarter of 2023. (Source: The Rheumatologist)
Source: The Rheumatologist - January 6, 2024 Category: Rheumatology Authors: From the College Tags: Billing/Coding insurance J code Source Type: research
Knowledge Needs Assessment Informs New Nurse Practitioners ’ Transition to Practice
Transitioning from student to nurse practitioner can be challenging, prompting a need to enhance transition-to-practice education in graduate curricula. This survey aimed to improve the educational curriculum by assessing knowledge needs among recent nurse practitioner graduates for smoother transitions to professional practice. Survey results identified career development, licensure, billing, pharmacology, and diagnostics as knowledge gaps. Webinar sessions were developed to address these gaps. (Source: The Journal for Nurse Practitioners)
Source: The Journal for Nurse Practitioners - January 3, 2024 Category: Nursing Authors: Courtney DuBois Shihabuddin, Heidi Bobek, Elizabeth L. Sharpe, Bashar Shihabuddin Tags: By Faculty for Faculty Source Type: research
Coding Corner: Billing for Straightforward Pneumonia in a Hospitalized Patient
A 64-year-old woman with a history of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) was admitted to the hospital with decompensated heart failure one day ago. On day two, the patient is still short of breath and now develops a temperature of 100.9 degrees F. You order blood cultures, urinalysis (UA), and a chest X-ray. You review the UA and personally review the chest X-ray with findings documented that reveal left lower lobe pneumonia. Complete blood count and basic metabolic panels from the same day are also reviewed. The patient’s oxygen saturation is 92% on room air.
You start intravenous ceftriaxone and oral ...
Source: The Hospitalist - January 2, 2024 Category: Hospital Management Authors: Ronda Whitaker Tags: Business of Medicine Clinical Guidelines Coding Source Type: research
Message from Dr. Eric Howell: The SoHM Annual Report
This report has been a key resource for many years on hospital medicine group composition and finances, including salary and hospital financial support. Hospitalists now earn as much as $323,500 annually!
But just as importantly, given the pivotal role played by hospitalists during the COVID-19 pandemic, SHM deployed a new, first-ever Workforce Experience Survey which captured patient load, perceived safety, and hospitalist well-being.
With more than 560 survey responses, there was a mixed picture of how hospitalists are doing. About 68% of respondents reported feeling at least some burnout, but at the same time, 86% repo...
Source: The Hospitalist - January 2, 2024 Category: Hospital Management Authors: Ronda Whitaker Tags: Advocacy Leadership Source Type: research
Message from Dr. Eric Howell: The SHM Annual Report
This report has been a key resource for many years on hospital medicine group composition and finances, including salary and hospital financial support. Hospitalists now earn as much as $323,500 annually!
But just as importantly, given the pivotal role played by hospitalists during the COVID-19 pandemic, SHM deployed a new, first-ever Workforce Experience Survey which captured patient load, perceived safety, and hospitalist well-being.
With more than 560 survey responses, there was a mixed picture of how hospitalists are doing. About 68% of respondents reported feeling at least some burnout, but at the same time, 86% repo...
Source: The Hospitalist - January 2, 2024 Category: Hospital Management Authors: Ronda Whitaker Tags: Advocacy Leadership Source Type: research
SHM Chapter Leaders Look Forward in New Year
New years typically start with goals and preparations for things to come. We caught up with several SHM chapter leaders and asked about their chapters’ goals, what they’re looking forward to (professionally and/or personally), and what they think the biggest challenge in health care will be for 2024. Here’s what they had to share.
Atlanta chapter president Mohamad Moussa, MD, SFHM
Hospitalist at Emory University in Atlanta, and site director of Emory Johns Creek Hospital in Johns Creek, Ga.
Dr. Moussa
Chapter goals: Our goal is to expand our reach by intentionally planning meetings with academic sessions outside th...
Source: The Hospitalist - January 2, 2024 Category: Hospital Management Authors: Ronda Whitaker Tags: Chapters Leadership Source Type: research
Budgeting Tips: Keeping Division Finances on Track
Dr. Brotman
For a hospitalist, managing a budget shouldn’t be that much different than maintaining a household budget. “Ideally, you should know approximately how much income you’ll generate and how much you expect to spend on a monthly or quarterly basis, and these numbers need to roughly match up,” said Daniel J. Brotman, MD, FACP, MHM, director of the division of hospital medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital, an urban academic medical center with more than 1,000 beds at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Dr. Bonsall
Most commonly, a hospital-medicine group leader who makes staffing decisions and creates sta...
Source: The Hospitalist - January 2, 2024 Category: Hospital Management Authors: Ronda Whitaker Tags: Business of Medicine Career Practice Management Source Type: research
Upcoding in medicare: where does it matter most?
AbstractUpcoding in Medicare has been a topic of interest to economists and policy makers for nearly 40 years. While upcoding is generally understood as “billing for services at higher level of complexity than the service actually pro- vided or documented,” it has a wide range of definitions within the literature. This is largely because the financial incentives across programs and aspects under the coding control of billing specialists and providers are different, and have evolved substantially over time, as has the published literature. Arguably, the primary importance of analyzing upcoding in different parts of Me...
Source: Health Economics Review - January 2, 2024 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Trends in Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) for Treating Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Cholangiocarcinoma, and Liver Metastasis: A Total Population Analysis from 2006 to 2021 in Germany
Curr Oncol. 2023 Dec 5;30(12):10325-10335. doi: 10.3390/curroncol30120752.ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to investigate trends in selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cholangiocarcinoma (CCC), and liver metastasis in Germany. We analyzed the nationwide German hospital billing database from 2006 to 2019 for the diagnosis of HCC, CCC or liver metastasis in combination with SIRT. For analyses of SIRT on the hospital level, we used the reimbursement.INFO tool based on German hospitals' quality reports from 2008 to 2021. Linear regression analysis was performed to detect changes ove...
Source: Current Oncology - December 22, 2023 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Smita George Thoduka Luka Flegar Christer Groeben Johannes Huber Nicole Eisenmenger Tobias Paulus Katharina Vogt Markus Luster Nasreddin Abolmaali Source Type: research
Trends in Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) for Treating Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Cholangiocarcinoma, and Liver Metastasis: A Total Population Analysis from 2006 to 2021 in Germany
Curr Oncol. 2023 Dec 5;30(12):10325-10335. doi: 10.3390/curroncol30120752.ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to investigate trends in selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cholangiocarcinoma (CCC), and liver metastasis in Germany. We analyzed the nationwide German hospital billing database from 2006 to 2019 for the diagnosis of HCC, CCC or liver metastasis in combination with SIRT. For analyses of SIRT on the hospital level, we used the reimbursement.INFO tool based on German hospitals' quality reports from 2008 to 2021. Linear regression analysis was performed to detect changes ove...
Source: Current Oncology - December 22, 2023 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Smita George Thoduka Luka Flegar Christer Groeben Johannes Huber Nicole Eisenmenger Tobias Paulus Katharina Vogt Markus Luster Nasreddin Abolmaali Source Type: research
