Everything Eyecare Practices Need to Know About Medicare

When it comes to accepting Medicare insurance, there are a few steps and processes that every front desk associate and optometrist needs to know. However, it can be tough to remember the various information surrounding reimbursements, signatures, and claims.

We saw that the Medicare Learning Network from the Center for Medicare Services provides a lot of useful PDFs and resources that your staff can refer to when in need. Make sure your staff always has access to these free pages in their bookmarks bar. These are important to follow if you want to reduce errors, returned or denied claims, and frustration for both your staff and patients. We'll highlight a few of the most important links below:

Medicare Billing Resources from the CMS

Compliance

Making sure that your patients' medical records are in compliance with Medicare requirements is top of mind. This helpful PDF compiles the various papers and information you need as a healthcare provider. We have also discussed running Medicare insurance in your practice in these blogs:

• Understanding Primary Insurance with Medicare
• The Financial Guide: Medicare
• Medicare Beneficiary Identifier

Signature

 

If you have multiple or just one doctor in the practice or if you're working remotely, the official signature on medical records can become a question mark. This PDF on Complying with Medicare Signature Requirements should clarify any questions around that in your practice so that you're submitting claims and entering data correctly.

 

Telehealth
We've gone over telehealth billing in this blog and this PDF here, but a few fields will change on Medicare claims. CMS provides this PDF on Telehealth Services to clarify who is qualified to provide telehealth, how to enter the originating sites, service codes, and billing/payment procedures. As telehealth services grow in importance, the CMS is updating their resources accordingly.

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Billing doesn't have to be scary. Download our Insurance Revenue Kit for a cheat sheet to eyecare billing.