Part B Revenue Booster: Keep These 6 Essential Coding Tips in Mind for 2012

Why This Topic Matters

Keeping up with annual coding updates helps practices avoid claim errors, payment delays, and audit risk while maintaining accurate reimbursement under Medicare and CPT-based workflows.

Article Sections

1. New Medicare screening code

   Introduces a new Medicare-covered preventive service and notes its place in 2011-2012 reimbursement updates.

2. CPT errata for 2012

   Summarizes the existence of CPT correction materials for the 2012 edition and highlights that multiple manual updates were issued online.

3. Anesthesia billing in a critical access hospital

   Explains a payment-related update tied to anesthesia services in a critical access hospital setting and references related CMS transmittal guidance.

4. Imaging guidance for paravertebral facet joint injections

   Covers the CPT note added for certain procedure reporting and discusses related audit attention and comparison with other procedure categories.

5. Definition of a new patient

   Describes a revised CPT patient-status definition for 2012 and how specialty and subspecialty distinctions affect billing classification.