Glossary of Reimbursement Terms
Advance Beneficiary Notice ABN, notification is a notification to the patient in advance of services that Medicare probably will not pay for and the estimated cost to patient (formerly WOL, waiver of liability). Medicare has a form that can be downloaded and each commercial payer may have their own ABN form that needs to be requested by the providers.
Ambulatory Payment Classification (APC)
The basic unit of payment in the Medicare Prospective Payment System for outpatient visits or procedures will be the APC. Under the APC system, outpatient services and procedures are classified for purchases of payment (similar to DRGs).
Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC)
An organization which provides surgical services
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These may include X-ray, drug, laboratory, or other services.
Appeals of claims denials: Submission of information requested by a payer for denying a claim. A special kind of complaint made if a request for coverage of healthcare services is denied by the patient's health plan.
Benefit Verification: Verifying insurance benefits including whether the patient is covered, the copay, coinsurance, or deductible amounts, with the insurer for each patient using the patient ID number and provider information before providing services.
Explanation of Benefits (EOB): A summary statement from the payer that explains the claim, the amount that is the responsibility of the member, or the reason for non-payment.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
The federal agency that manages Medicare, Medicaid, and several other federal healthcare programs.
Claim: A request for payment of healthcare services received by the plan member. Claims are also called bills for all Part A and Part B services administered by Medicare Administrative Contractors, or MACs. "Claim" is the word used for Part B physician/supplier services billed to
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Codes can also be used to track utilization and establish reimbursement rates for facility and professional services.
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)
COBRA is a federal law that allows and requires past employees to be covered under company health insurance plans for a set premium. This program gives individuals the opportunity to remain insured when their current plan or position has been terminated.
Coordination of Benefits (COB)
A provision in an insurance plan wherein a person covered under more than one group plan, has benefits coordinated such that all payments are limited to 100% of the actual charge or allowance. Most plans also specify rules whereby one insurer is considered primary and the other is considered secondary.
Coverage
Coverage refers to the terms and conditions under which a payer will or will not provide benefits for a specific treatment. Coverage policies are usually developed for new technologies or procedures. Frequently, private payers and Medicaid can reference coverage policies developed by Medicare and the Medicare
As far as insurance plans go, generally there are three plans a patient will have, they are Health Maintenance Organization (HM0), Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) and Point-of-Service (POS).
Once the patient comes through the door payment for services should be top of mind. All copayments and deductibles collected and any other non-covered expenses billable to the patient. The correct information is gathered and if all is handled initially properly within in the cycle the claim can go the workflow and payment received with minimum effort by human hands.
The patient is informed about their coverage and the amount of copayment they would have to pay.
This article discusses how Medicare Carriers and Fiscal Intermediaries use coverage determinations to establish medical necessity. When the condition(s) of a patient are expected to not meet medical necessity requirements for a test, procedure, or service, the provider has the obligation under the Beneficiary Notices Initiative to alert the Medicare beneficiary prior to rendering the service. The Medicare beneficiary is notified via the Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN) (see page 235 in Appendix B).
to standardize the coding systems used to process Medicare claims. This coding system is mostly used to bill for any supplies that have been used, and any injections that have been given. HCPCS codes must be used in order to bill Medicare. HCPCS codes are
They also have to pay a deductible, a certain amount of money that the individual (also referred to as ‘the insured’) must pay before an insurance company will pay a portion of their medical expenses (or ‘claim’), when they choose an insurance company. Healthcare coverage is the amount of protection given by the insurance company.
Third, the ACA regulates health care coverage in the United States. According to Lussier et al. (2016), the act mandates that all employers with more than 50 employees provide their full-time employees with health care coverage or face penalties for failing to do so” (p. 494). This act specifies that if organizations choose not to provide employees with benefits, they will be forced to pay a penalty for each eligible employee. However, organizations that do offer employee health and retirement plans must meet minimum requirements and comply with ERISA (Lussier et al, 2016). Employers and employees
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act establishes new requirements for health plans and insurers changed in order to expand access to affordable coverage, and prevent individuals from losing certain coverage. New coverage insurance market regulations will prevent health insurers from denying coverage to people for any reason, in which their health status, and charging people more based on their health status and gender. These new rules will also require that all new health plans provide extensive coverage that include at least a minimal set of services, caps annual out‐of‐pocket spending that does not impose cost‐sharing for preventive services, as well as no impose annual or lifetime limits on coverage. For example, new insurance market regulations within private insurances allow young adults are able to stay in their parents health insurance up to the age 26. Once an employee has reached age 26 they have to upgrade from their parents insurance plan to defendant coverage plan eliminating annual and lifetime limits on coverage such as rescissions and waiting periods within 90 days. Health insurers will be prohibiting from placing an age limit to their coverage in case of fraud. Large employer that offer coverage plans will have to automatically places employs in to a low cost premium plan if the employ sign up or exit out of coverage. Overall health plan premiums will be able to vary based on an age, geographic area tobacco
The first feature is that the website provides detailed information regarding the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). Rebecca, T. (n.d) states that COBRA was, “…established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to help workers who lose their jobs maintain their employer-sponsored health insurance.” This section of the website is broken down into sections for employees, employers, posters and flyers, videos, and general information
Accessing health insurance coverage is not exclusively limited to the exchange. Employers who have a large staff are required to provide access to health insurance as part of their employees. There are approximately 80percent of Americans who derive health insurance coverage from their employers (“Obamacare
Primary payer is the health plan that pays benefits first on a claim for medical care or dental care. There are different types of primary payer they are FEHB and FEDVIP. FEHB is The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. FEDVIP is The Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program. FEHB plan is considered the one that pays first. FEDVIP plan is considered the secondary payer. Paying the bill up to the limits: of the payer’s coverage. It doesn’t always mean the primary payer pays first in time. Medicare programs, doesn’t have primary payers. When Medicare began it was a primary payer but things change. Medicare pays primary. A group plan, individual plan, or government plan are primary payers. Prior of the plan is there responsibility.
You will need to clarify the kinds of coverage your insurer will provide. Different kinds of plans will only cover a specific number of healthcare services. For example, you will need to check whether or not the healthcare insurance plan you are going to choose, will include dental care or not. Not all doctors and hospitals will be covered by one company. So check on where and who is covered by the insurance plan, you are considering getting.
Our benefit specialist has been trained to carefully plan the services and check all our plans with the employee. Such as access, services and prices, we want to make sure we have proper balance through the company. We will stay on top of new trends, so we do not become obsolete in our benefit packages.
In contrast to the lack of health care insurance in early America as most people simply paid cash alongside an exchange of goods for care or received charitable services (Black & Chitty, 2014, p. 305). According to Medline Plus, health care benefit insurance plans allegedly, helps protect you from high medical care costs. It is a contract between the individual and an insurance company (U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2014). The person purchases a plan or policy, and the company agrees to pay part of your expenses whenever the need arises for medical care. People who meet certain requirements can qualify for government health insurance, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Generally, these contracts have become a contemporary source of disdain as this bundle of confusing legalistic terminology regularly necessitates specialized interpreters to truthfully guide patrons.
Healthcare organizations should develop healthcare centers based on freestanding ambulatory services. Insurers should encourage patients to engage ambulatory services by imposing restrictions on reimbursements and not covering full costs of some processes in inpatient hospital settings. Surgical centers for ambulatory services should be expanded and re-named same-day surgery or outpatient centers to illustrate a shift in procedures that differ from hospitals. Ambulatory