Medicare

Does a patient have to be “Homebound” in order to provide foot care services in the patient’s home?

APPEALING MEDICARE DECSIONS Once an initial claim determination is made participating physicians generally have the right to appeal. Physicians who do not take assignment have limited appeal rights. Beneficiaries my assign their appeal rights to Physicians who provide them with services or items.

UNLESS THE FUNGUS INFECTION IN A NAIL REQUIRES DEBRIDEMENT BECAUSE IT CAUSED THE NAIL TO BE ABNORMALLY THICK WHICH RESULTED IN EITHER PAIN OR A SECONDARY INFECTION OR A MARKED LIMITATION OF WALKING, THE TREATMENT SERVICE IS CONSIDERED SIMPLY A NAIL TRIMMING AND IS NOT PAYABLE BY MEDICARE.

“If orthotics are not covered by Medicare, if the KX modifier is appended to L3000-RT and L3000-LT, I am getting paid. Is it wrong to use the KX modifier to get paid for orthotics?”

Updates Regarding CPT codes 11730 and 11750

What is one to do when a patient wants a claim to be resubmitted after her deductible is met when the claim was originally submitted prior to the deductible being met?

What is the Active Care Requirement regarding “At Risk, Routine Foot Care?

“My clinic is at the local hospital. I send X-rays to the radiology department. They are eventually read by a radiologist. However, I actually evaluate the x-rays and interpret them myself. Can I bill that component of the radiology fee? And if I do, will it affect radiologist reimbursement?”

“I am in practice and would like to figure out a different way to contain and manage my routine foot care. It is approximately 15% of my practice. I would like to designate one morning a week as a routine foot care clinic. I am considering making this a cash only clinic: $50 for toenails and $50 for calluses. Is this possible? I am a Medicare provider and have contracts with most insurance companies. I was hoping to model my cash clinic on what some nurses in the area have done. They visit a nursing home and offer residents $25 for routine foot care and do not work with any insurance companies or Medicare. Any thoughts on this cash model, routine foot care clinic would be appreciated.”

“I’m trying to determine the coverage of diabetic shoes for a patient who has had one foot/leg amputated. Somewhere in my brain I seem to remember that Medicare will cover a pair of shoes so the amputee can wear the shoe on his prosthetic. Does this also apply to heat moldable inserts? Can we dispense them for the shoe that will be used on the prosthetic leg? I would appreciate any thoughts on this situation. I have read the LCD and associated article but can’t seem to fully understand how this works.”