Cardiology practices have always faced fairly distinctive coding and billing challenges. Rapidly declining reimbursement for key servicesincluding nuclear medicine, cath labs and consultationsnow makes it imperative for cardiology practices to capture and collect every legitimate charge.

Coding and documentation is often the chink in a facilitys armor. Issues such as improper documentation, overcoding and a lack of communication between coders and physicians can often steer facilities into a coding rut, said Linda Gates-Striby, CCS-P, compliance manager at the Care Group in Indianapolis, during a presentation Tuesday at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) scientific sessions.

The New Year provides an opportunity to turn a corner and not look back. At the American College of Cardiology (ACC), our initial focus is to apply all means necessary to mitigate the impacts of the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule, which resulted in drastic payment cuts for cardiology. The rule is bad policy. It will not only hurt access to care, particularly for disadvantaged populations, but will dramatically increase Medicare costs by shifting services to the hospital setting. The college is working all anglesregulatory, legislative and legalto reverse the most egregious elements of the rule.

Cardiology practices have always faced distinctive coding and billing challenges. Today, rapidly declining reimbursement makes it imperative for practices to collect every legitimate charge, requiring the assistance health IT solutions.

The smiles and lauds of Happy New Year are slowly being replaced by the droning realization that the reimbursement cuts in the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule are in full force. Its difficult to discuss any topic in cardiovascular medicine without contemplating the influence of these drastic cuts enacted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)some as high as 40 percent.

Beyond covering the uninsured, redesign of the healthcare delivery system is essential. Patients and physicians have not been served by the cost and volume controls that have occurred over the past decade and the current escalation of healthcare costs is not sustainable.

Infinitt North America, a developer of Web-based RIS, PACS and advanced visualization solutions, has formed a business partnership with Malvern, Pa.-based Great Valley Technologies to offer a RIS/PACS with integrated billing capabilities.

In 1936, the American Medical Association (AMA) and American College of Physicians (ACP) answered a call for the development of uniform high standards for new physicians by forming the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM).