6/25/2014

Shared Genius: June 2014

Shared Genius Practice Solutions From one genius to another.

 June 2014:  277s, "bad address", appointments, time blocks, & more!

Available now!

Editor Addition:
In the e-mail I posted that the new date for ICD-10 was Oct 1, 2015 (after finding said information in more than three good sources).  In investigating further, we crawled through the CMS website and this is the wording posted:

"On April 1, 2014, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA) (Pub. L. No. 113-93) was enacted, which said that the Secretary may not adopt ICD-10 prior to October 1, 2015. Accordingly, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expects to release an interim final rule in the near future with a new compliance date for the use of ICD-10 codes beginning October 1, 2015. The rule will also require HIPAA covered entities to continue to use ICD-9-CM through September 30, 2015. "

So, the current date that has been listed of Oct. 1, 2015 is really wishful/hopeful thinking by everyone.  (Although it does look like CMS is hopeful for the same thing.)  According to the above paragraph the "interim final rule" has yet to be created or released, after which there is always a 60-day comment period, and then, eventually, a final rule will be issued.  There is no date on this note on the CMS website either, so we'll all have to check back into this page to see when some movement begins to occur.  So, continue not panicking, and definitely continue to prepare for ICD-10 implementation.

6/17/2014

Michgan Blues Claim Filing DEADline

BCBS of Michigan sent out an e-mail recently stating that the Blues will retire their local system on Oct. 31, 2014. Since they will no longer process claims on that system, all claims filed on the local system must be submitted and received by Sept. 15, 2014, in order to be processed.

If you submit a claim after the filing limits, BCBSM will not offer any special handling or filing extensions, and no payment will be due from BCBSM or the subscriber. All health care providers must follow claim-filing deadlines (as you can see, there are no exceptions here).

For more information about this change, please refer to the March 2014 Record.

Blue Cross defined the local contracts, which have been migrating to their new system and will be completely migrated mid September.
These local contracts include:
  • Local and Medicare Advantage group numbers: Five digits
  • MOS group numbers: Nine digits
  • NASCO group numbers: Five digits, usually starting with a seven or eight
  • BCN group numbers: Eight digits

Any clam submitted with one of the local contracts (listed above); whether it is a secondary, resubmission, or original needs to be received by Blue Cross no later than September 15, 2014 or it will not be processed.

Patients with local contracts should have received a new contract number to go through the new system.

You can contact Provider Inquiry at Blue Cross of Michigan for more information.

Provider Inquiry Information:

If you’re calling from this area code
Hours of operation
Use this phone number
248, 313, 586, 734, 810 or 947
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
1-800-245-9092
517, 989
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
1-800-272-0172
231, 269, 616, *989
8 a.m. noon,
1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
1-800-255-1878
906
8:30 a.m. to noon,
1:05 p.m. to 5 p.m.
1-866-872-5837
Outside Michigan
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
1-800-482-3146
For questions about BCBSM employees only, contact our Ombudsman office.
8:30 a.m. to noon,
12:50 p.m. to 5 p.m.
1-877-258-0167
313-225-8748