Practice Management

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), enacted in 1996, included provisions for simplifying the transaction involved with Medicare claims submission. In August of last year, the first provision was published regarding the standardization of claims via electronic filing.

Ophthalmologists continue to be concerned about decreasing reimbursement for cataract surgery and the increasing nonreimbursed costs of utilizing new technology. I believe, however, that the future for lens and implant surgery is rosy.

Today, when patients come for a visit, ophthalmologists have the discretionof using either the eye codes (92002 to 92014) or the E/M codes in billing.But, when is it truly appropriate to use a certain set of codes for a givenvisit? Unfortunately, there's no one standard. It all depends on the rulesset by the carriers in your state.