Medicare must pay interest on clean claims if payment is not made within the applicable number of calendar days (i.e., 30 days) after the date of receipt. The applicable number of days is also known as the payment ceiling. For example, a clean claim received March 1, 2014, must be paid before the end of business March 31, 2014.
The interest rate is determined by the applicable rate on the day of payment. This rate is determined by the Treasury Department on a six-month basis, effective every January and July 1. Providers may access the Treasury Department Web page http://fms.treas.gov/prompt/rates.html external link for the correct rate. The interest period begins on the day after payment is due and ends on the day of payment.
The new rate of 2.125 percent is in effect through June 30, 2015.
Interest is not paid on:
• Claims requiring external investigation or development by the Medicare contractor
• Claims on which no payment is due
• Claims denied in full
• Claims for which the provider is receiving periodic interim payment
• Claims requesting anticipated payments under the home health prospective payment system.
Note: The Medicare contractor reports the amount of interest on each claim on the remittance advice to the provider when interest payments are applicable.
Reference: http://medicare.fcso.com/Billing_news/209233.asp
Blogger Widget
Popular Posts
-
Modifier - as the name implies a modifier will modify a service / procedure or an item under certain circumstances for appropriate reimbur...
-
An OPPS payment status indicator is assigned to every HCPCS code. The status indicator identifies whether the service described by the H...
-
Claim Adjustment Reason Codes (CARC) CO-22 or PR-22 This care may be covered by another payer per coordination of benefits. CO-19 This is...
-
This procedure is medically necessary only when it requires the professional skills of a therapist, is designed to address specific ne...
-
Definition: The “-59” modifier is used to indicate a distinct procedural service. The physician may need to indicate that a procedure or...
-
Mohs surgery, also known as chemosurgery, created by a general surgeon, Dr. Frederic E. Mohs, is performed to remove complex or ill-defi...
-
Ambulance transportation is a covered service when the patient’s condition is such that the use of any other method of transportation would...
-
AAPC’s Certified Professional Coder (CPC) credential is the gold standard for medical coding in physician office settings and held by more ...
-
Sentinel lymph node identification and biopsy typically involves a multidisciplinary approach. A nuclear medicine procedure called lymph...
-
This procedure may be medically necessary for training patients whose walking abilities have been impaired by neurological, muscular, o...