Preparing for Tax Season

Many doctors’ offices often find themselves putting the business side of their practices on the back burner.  Tax time is coming, and year end preparations can help make it go much more smoothly.  Avoid costly mistakes and delays by making sure all proper forms have been completed and your office information is up to date.  Some questions to consider:

· Have you done all your year end preparations in order to process forms for employees such as W-2s and 1099’s?

· Have you consulted with your accountant about upcoming tax changes that might affect you?

· Have you properly booked all new assets such as equipment?

· Have you done a physical count of all inventory, if applicable?

· Have you reconciled all bank accounts, notes, LOC, and credit cards?

Be ready for tax season!

 

“Medical Manager” Online

MD Alliance Billing, LLC is pleased to announce that the premiere issue of our periodic newsletter “Medical Manager” is now available online!  Click on the following link to download the November 2008 issue.

Medical Manager Nov 2008

Check Your Medicare Crossover Claims

Trailblazer has issued a notice that Medicare claims crossing over to secondary insurers had dropped the taxanomy code and are being denied by Medicaid and other secondary insurers. Trailblazer claims the issue has been fixed but they will not be identifying and resending claims affected by this issue. Providers will need to request Medicaid to review/appeal affected claims that were denied prior to implementation of the system fix.

Medicare Average Provider Enrollement Processing Time

Part A average days to process an initial application is 144 days. Average days to process changes of information to an application is 69 days.

Part B average days to process and initial application is 78 days. Average days to process changes of information to an application is 86 days. Average days for reassignments is 67 days. F

For more information see www.trailblazerhealth.com

Medicare Site Reviews

Remind your staff  that any Medicare contractor staff person who visits your facility must show a photo identification indicating their affiliation with the Medicare contractor. Providers should not allow any individuals access to their computers, medical records, billing information, etc., if that individual fails to produce identification and proper documentation confirming their identity.

Medicare Modifier Code Search Tool Now Available

At www.Trailblazerhealth.comproviders can now search for a specific modifier or view a complete list of all modifiers. Trailblazer is still working on this tool and therefore it is not an all-inclusive list and additional modifiers will be added to the data base. Only Part B modifiers are available at this time. Part A modifiers will be added at a later date.

Year End Budget Planning

With the year end in sight, it is time to evaluate your office’s financial position, and prepare your budget for 2009.  Budgets are a necessity, especially in larger practices.  They must be monitored to make sure spending is kept under control.   You need to know where your money is going.  A detailed evaluation of your current situation will help you to know if you budgeted appropriately this year.  Knowing where you are today can help you plan more effectively for tomorrow.

Consider the following areas:

· Accounts receivable —do you know the state of your accounts?

· Yearly increases—what will be your percent cost and income increase for 2009?

· Goals – what is your profit margin goal?

· Cost containment—do you have cost containment controls in place?  Is you staff aware of cost containment?  As an incentive, offer a bonus to any staff member who comes up with a cost containment idea that works.

Careful planning today can help your practice achieve its financial goals tomorrow.