Billing

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic started in Alberta in March 2020 and significantly increased telehealth service use and provision reducing the risk of virus transmission. We examined the change in the number and proportion of virtual visits by physician specialty and condition (chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases [COPD], heart failure [HF], colorectal and lung cancers), as well as associated changes in physician compensation. Methods: A population-based design was used to analyze all processed physician claims comparing the number and proportion of virtual visits and associated physician billings relative to in-person between pre- (2019/2020) and intra-pandemic (2020/2021)...

In Vietnam and the Philippines, viral hepatitis is the leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. This study aims to understand the barriers and enablers of people receiving care for hepatitis B and C to support both countries' efforts to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. Retrospective, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive, quota-based sample of 63 people living with hepatitis B or C in one province of Vietnam and one region of the Philippines. A rapid deductive approach to thematic analysis produced key findings among the three phases of care: (1) pre-awareness and testing, (2) linkage and treatment initiation and (3) ongoing treatment and recovery...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between physician-hospital integration within accountable care organizations (ACOs) and inpatient care utilization and expenditure. DATA SOURCES: The primary data were Massachusetts All-Payer Claims Database (2009-2013). STUDY SETTING: Fifteen provider organizations that entered a commercial ACO contract with a major private payer in Massachusetts between 2009 and 2013. STUDY DESIGN: Using an instrumental variable approach, the study compared inpatient care delivery between patients of ACOs demonstrating high versus low integration...

BACKGROUND: Since 2015, the New York State Office of Mental Health has provided state primary care clinics with outreach, free training and technical assistance, and the opportunity to bill Medicaid for the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) as part of its Collaborative Care Medicaid Program. This study aims to describe the characteristics of New York State primary care clinics at each step of CoCM implementation, and the barriers and facilitators to CoCM implementation for the New York State Collaborative Care Medicaid Program...

Myelodysplastic syndrome is primarily characterized by dysplasia in the bone marrow (BM), presenting a challenge in consistent morphology interpretation. Accurate diagnosis through traditional slide-based analysis is difficult, necessitating a standardized objective technique. Over the past two decades, imaging flow cytometry (IFC) has proven effective in combining image-based morphometric analyses with high-parameter phenotyping. We have previously demonstrated the effectiveness of combining IFC with a feature-based machine learning algorithm to accurately identify and quantify rare binucleated erythroblasts (BNEs) in dyserythropoietic BM cells...

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the frequency and results of conservative treatment of proximal humerus fractures in older individuals. METHODS: Billing data of the BARMER health insurance carrier for all patients of age 65 and above with proximal humerus fractures in the years 2005-2021 were retrospectively analyzed with multivariable Cox regression models, taking account of the patients' age, sex, and comorbidity profiles. The defined primary endpoints were overall survival (OS), major adverse events (MAE), thromboembolic events (TE), and complications of surgery or of trauma...

BACKGROUND/AIM: The International Association of Dental Traumatology (IADT) is considered the foremost authority in Dental Traumatology. Fellowship status was introduced in 2015 and is considered an international standard of excellence. The Fellowship Committee of the IADT believed it was essential to survey members seeking information on the benefits of the IADT Fellowship and potential considerations for future development. This survey aimed to explore the perceptions of members of IADT surrounding the fellowship process in terms of interest, accessibility, equality, perceived prestige, and value to the membership...

Lung cancer, a leading cause of cancer-related death, often requires surgical resection for early-stage cases, with recent data supporting less invasive resections for tumors smaller than 2 cm. Central to resection is lymph node assessment, an area of controversy worldwide, compounded by advances in minimally invasive techniques. The review aims to assess current standards for lymph node assessment, recent data from the surgical era, and the immunobiological basis of how lymph node metastases impact patient outcomes...

Precise medical billing is essential for decreasing hospital liability, upholding environmental stewardship and ensuring fair costs for patients. We instituted a multifaceted approach to improve the billing accuracy of our robotic-assisted thoracic surgery programme by including an educational component, updating procedure cards and removing the auto-populating function of our electronic medical record. Overall, we saw significant improvements in both the number of inaccurate billing cases and, specifically, the number of cases that overcharged patients...

BACKGROUND: Our previous research showed that, in Alberta, Canada, a higher proportion of visits to emergency departments and urgent care centres by First Nations patients ended in the patient leaving without being seen or against medical advice, compared with visits by non-First Nations patients. We sought to analyze whether these differences persisted after controlling for patient demographic and visit characteristics, and to explore reasons for leaving care. METHODS: We conducted a mixed-methods study, including a population-based retrospective cohort study for the period of April 2012 to March 2017 using provincial administrative data...

BACKGROUND: Information on the causes of deaths from diarrhoea in children younger than 5 years is needed to design improved preventive and therapeutic approaches. We aimed to conduct a systematic analysis of studies to report estimates of the causes of deaths from diarrhoea in children younger than 5 years at global and regional levels during 2000-21. METHODS: For this systematic review and Bayesian multinomial analysis, we included 12 pathogens with the highest attributable incidence in the Global Enteric Multicenter Study...

Confidentiality is a foundational element of high-quality, accessible, and equitable health care. Despite strong grounding in federal and state laws, professional guidelines, and ethical standards, health care professionals and adolescent patients face a range of complexities and barriers to seeking and providing confidential care to adolescents across different settings and circumstances. The dynamic needs of adolescents, the oftentimes competing interests of key stakeholders, the rapidly evolving technological context of care, and variable health care billing and claims requirements are all important considerations in understanding how to optimize care to focus on and meet the needs of the adolescent patient...

Electronic health records (EHR) have revolutionized healthcare by providing efficient access to patient information, but their implementation poses various challenges. This paper examines the ethical and legal issues surrounding EHR adoption, particularly focusing on the healthcare landscape in India. Ethical considerations, including patient autonomy, confidentiality, beneficence, and justice, must guide EHR implementation to protect patient rights and privacy. Legal issues such as medical errors, malpractice, data breaches, and billing inaccuracies underscore the importance of robust policies and security measures...

INTRODUCTION: digital health has been demonstrated to improve the efficiency and scale of health service delivery in resource-limited settings. Understanding factors influencing its use could accelerate the process of its implementation in routine practice. METHODS: we conducted a cross-sectional analytic study in Buea and Tiko health districts from January to May 2021. We included healthcare workers selected using multistage stratified sampling. Use of digital health was defined as using at least two digital tools and one digital health intervention (DHI) or at least two DHIs by a healthcare worker...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the efficacy and safety of medical thoracoscopic bulla volume reduction for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) combined with giant emphysematous bullae (GEB). METHODS: A total of 66 patients with COPD combined with GEB were enrolled in the study. All the subjects received treatment at Zhengzhou Central Hospital affiliated with Zhengzhou University between March 2021 and December 2022. The subjects were divided into two groups, a medical thoracoscope group consisting of 30 cases treated with medical thoracoscopic bulla volume reduction and a surgical thoracoscope group consisting of 36 cases treated by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery...

INTRODUCTION: Phosphorus (P) deficiency in plants creates a variety of metabolic perturbations that decrease photosynthesis and growth. Phosphorus deficiency is especially challenging for the production of bioenergy feedstock plantation species, such as poplars ( Populus spp.), where fertilization may not be practically or economically feasible. While the phenotypic effects of P deficiency are well known, the molecular mechanisms underlying whole-plant and tissue-specific responses to P deficiency, and in particular the responses of commercially valuable hardwoods, are less studied...

A crucial step in early embryogenesis is the establishment of spatial patterns of signaling activity. Tools to perturb morphogen signals with high resolution in space and time can help reveal how embryonic cells decode these signals to make appropriate fate decisions. Here, we present new optogenetic reagents and an experimental pipeline for creating designer Nodal signaling patterns in live zebrafish embryos. Nodal receptors were fused to the light-sensitive heterodimerizing pair Cry2/CIB1N, and the Type II receptor was sequestered to the cytosol...

OBJECTIVES: Severe maxillofacial space infection (MSI) as an end stage of dentoalveolar diseases or complication of sialadenitis is a potentially life-threatening disease accompanied by complications including airway obstruction, jugular vein thrombosis, descending mediastinitis, sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome. The aim of this study was to analyze the incidence and time trends of severe MSI and potentially influencing factors in the German healthcare system over time. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nationwide data regarding the national diagnosis-related-group (DRG) inpatient billing system was received from the German Federal Statistical Office...

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INTRODUCTION: When used as the primary anesthetic, nerve blocks are not billed as separate procedures. In this scenario, the anesthesia start (A Start ) time should include the block procedural time. We measured how often A Start time was documented before the nerve block was placed in the preoperative area, and compared cases where a block team performed the nerve block and cases where the intraoperative anesthesia attending supervised the nerve block. We hypothesized that the involvement of a regional anesthesia team would lead to more accurate documentation of A Start ...