Advanced Life Support Ambulance Services: Insufficient Documentation
by Christine Woolstenhulme, QCC, QMCS, CPC, CMRS October 5th, 2016
Ambulance suppliers often submit Medicare claims for Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance services which lack sufficient medical record documentation. The 2015 Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) Report states that the improper payment rate for ALS services was 14.5 percent with improper payments projected at $226 million. The most frequent errors occur when documentation:
Does not support the medical necessity of the ALS level of service
Lacks the patient’s signature authorizing the supplier to bill Medicare for the service.
Use the following resources to avoid documentation errors:
Advanced Life Support Ambulance Services: Insufficient Documentation. (2016, October 5). Find-A-Code Articles. Retrieved from https://www.findacode.com/articles/advanced-life-support-ambulance-services-insufficient-documentation-29943.html
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