Anesthesia providers distinguish themselves by virtue of their ability to manage all types of pain. While most of their time and energy is focused on the acute pain related to surgical procedures and deliveries, many providers also consider themselves qualified to manage chronic intractable pain. The result can be two very distinct types of practice. […]

Last week, we sent out a special alert advising our readers of a change in Aetna’s payment policy in connection with physical status (PS) modifiers on anesthesia claims. The payer announced it would no longer provide additional payment for PS 3-5, effective July 15 of this year. Not to be outdone, several of the “Blues” […]

On April 10, 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the fiscal year (FY) 2025 Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) proposed rule. While these provisions are not final, they do give current insight into the agency’s thinking in terms of a host of issues concerning the inpatient hospital setting, including […]