Confessions of a Pediatric Practice Consultant

Quick Coding Guide for Breastfeeding Related Services

chiphart — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:43:42 -0500

Sometimes, I don't have to do any of the work except to make friends and provide attribution. Today's installment features a wonderfully concise, helpful guide to CPT coding for breastfeeding related services, care of the National Breastfeeding Center.

Some sample text:

2012 RBRVS Calculator Updated

chiphart — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:51:29 -0500

The free RBRVS calculator has been updated for the 2012 Revised CPT data, which includes a return of the 1.000 GPCI floor, some updated codes, and an increase to the new CF.

You can see it all here.

Practice Makeover: 101 WAYS TO TRANSFORM YOUR PRACTICE

chiphart — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:37:36 -0500

At our Users' Conference last summer, Brandon Betancourt gave a presentation entitled, "Practice Makeover: 101 Ways to Transform Your Practice." I was teaching at the same time, so I couldn't attend, but I did hear the applause at the finish.

PCMH Payoff in NC

chiphart — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:53:36 -0500

Holy smokes.

The Governor of NC just issued quite a press release:

"Care management saved N.C. Medicaid nearly $1 billion over four years, according to a new analysis by a national health care consulting firm." You can read the rest here.

Given that there isn't anywhere close to full PCMH coverage in the NC Medicaid program, these savings are enormous.

2012 96110 Update - Good News [Update]

chiphart — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:26:52 -0500

It looks like your hard work paid off! From a CMS bulletin dated 12/29/2011:

96110 Emergency - Please Act!

chiphart — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:52:23 -0500

The AAP has issued an important call to action for pediatricians, and those who work for them, relating to a proposed change to the 96110 CPT code, a subject about which I've written many times (these are just a fraction of the blog entries, you can see them all here).

2012 Free RBRVS Calculator [Updated 01/19/12]

chiphart — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:25:59 -0500

[Updated on 01/18/12 to reflect the Revised RVU release.]

Welcome to the free 2012 RBRVS Calculator. Please note that this is in BETA, as it refers to
an annual conversion factor of $24.60. Past experience suggests that this number will change sometime between now (12/8/11) and March, 2012.

2012 RBRVS GPCI Comparison Guide

chiphart — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:11:09 -0500

With the announcement that the AAP has updated its RBRVS guide for 2012, I guess I have to get off my duff and work on the 2012 RVUs.

Part 1: My annual GPCI comparison. AFAIK, this is still the only place where anyone actually breaks down the GPCI changes from year to year. While some people jump up and down about a 1% change in a particular code or the annual conversion factor, we all need to pay attention to the GPCI scores. For some parts of the country, the impact has been significant.

VFC vs. Private Stock Influenza Survey

chiphart — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:20:27 -0500

Spread the word!

The AAP Immunization Program is conducting a survey on when you received your influenza vaccine- private and VFC. There have been variable delivery times with large lags in VFC vs private stock in recent years, and this survey helps pinpoint the problem areas. The AAP was the only one to collect this information last year, and consequently made some significant strides toward identifying where the problems are.

Vaccine Refusal Form

chiphart — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:15:58 -0400

The IAC has published an updated Vaccine Refusal Form which is stronger than the AAP's. Worth sharing, worth using.