Corporate Compliance Newsletters

APC Answer Letter APC Payment Insider Briefings on APCs Briefings on Coding Compliance Strategies Briefings on HIPAA Health Care Auditing Strategies Health Information Compliance Insider JustCoding.com Laboratory Compliance Insider Mammography Regulation and Reimbursement Report Strategies for Health Care Compliance

Comply with FDA regulations and interpret the Mammography Quality Standards Act with Mammography Regulation Report.

Subscribe »

2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

Mammography Regulation and Reimbursement Report

Issue 12, December 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• April fools day billing rush

  Medicare officials in Washington, DC, revised billing procedures and codes for mammography...

• Ohio hospital forced to prove quality

  When workers at a hospital in Medina, OH, produced addendum mammography reports based on the...

Issue 11, November 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Documentation: Low-volume processor control

  Mammo tech Liz Longley, RTM, of Atlanta, keeps the following information on one sheet to help her...

• Oregon site asks FDA to drop screen-film requirement

  Well over 300 digital systems were in place in the United States as of September, but that number...

• OSHA sticking sites with fines, citations

  A primer on the needlestick regulationsThe Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA...

• Tomosynthesis would reduce compression, study says

  Dan Kopans, MD, isn’t sure he can get away with it, but he’ll sure as heck...

• Too much compression ruptures implant

  California’s Claude Goode tells a painful tale:One of Goode’s patients had a breast...

Issue 10, October 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Boston physicists talk about troubleshooting low OD

  Boston physicists talk about troubleshooting low OD

• E/M report: Return interpretations with breast imaging codes to referring doc, e

  E/M report: Return interpretations with breast imaging codes to referring doc, experts say

• Unplugged, with medical physicist Lee Goldman

  Unplugged, with medical physicist Lee Goldman

• But mammo sites must keep the bar high

  But mammo sites must keep the bar high

Issue 9, September 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• FL insurer gives radiologists incentive to quit mammo readings

  Malpractice insurance companies in Florida have offered six radiologists who read mammograms for...

• Screenings 18 months apart equals bad medicine

  Professionals disagree with one coder’s scheduling adviceSeveral technologists...

• Sensitometer and sensibility

  What to do if your sensitometer is unavailableThe FDA released alternative quality control...

Issue 8, August 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Dover center has 97% biopsy-tracking success rate

  Finding a needle in a haystack is easier than tracking category 4 and 5 biopsy results, according...

• Interpreter needs fall on deaf ears

  Upgrade sign language, foreign-language services—or get suedA hospital in New Jersey paid...

• Less than 90 days to equipment compliance

  Do you have automatic exposure under control?The annual automatic exposure control (AEC) test on...

• More enforcement likely as ‘poor diagnosis’ stories go mainstream

  Mainstream media, after all is said and done, may be the whip that makes the mammography quality...

• New lesion-detection, technology G-codes boost reimbursement crop

  The government lifted the payment limitation on screening mammography for claims with a year 2002...

Issue 7, July 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Florida hospital free from HR goof

  Six violations serve wakeup to hospital officialsCalhoun Liberty Hospital hires a younger...

• Missing phantoms swell into negative publicity

  Four weeks of missing phantom records left a big-city hospital in Michigan in violation of Title...

• Ohio center ticked over accreditation risk

  Gets little help from Phillips after switching to incompatible chemistryA mammography center in...

• Software turns PCs into mammography classrooms

  A new software tool created by a medical technology company based in England will help mammography...

• Unruffled in crisis

  How to communicate bad news and minimize credibility damageHenry Kissinger once said “there...

Issue 6, June 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Assessment your way

  The following are assessment wordings you are allowed to use in mammography reports in place of...

• Carrier won’t back mammography coder

  Screening and diagnostic rules complicated by conflicting informationTrying to determine how...

• CEO takes charge of mammography program

  Executive officer leads Arkansas hospital in wake of False Claims Act settlementAll mammography...

• Good-looking start for brachytherapy

  More than two-thirds of women involved in a recent breast cancer study showed excellent cosmetics...

• In-house continuing education saves thousands of dollars for Ohio Health

  Four years ago, a new quality manager slot opened up at Ohio Health, and Le Ann Clark filled it...

• Scheduling assumptions spoil billing

  An expert coder’s tips to help you avoid common mistakesNorth Carolina’s Bonnie...

Issue 5, May 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Bromide and go seek equilibrium

  Part II: How to optimize replenishment rates in flash-flood processor conditionsIn February, we...

• Clinics use ‘controversy news’ to educate patients

  A mammography clinic in Kansas City, MO, spent its entire morning April 16 fielding calls from...

• Clock management in film crisis

  Organized tech team makes time for patientsIt’s early December in Chicago. Mammogram...

• Indiana hospital messes up audit obligations

  Consultants offer tracking tips to build meaningful resultsPart I of IISt. Vincent Clay Hospital...

• Motion picture blurry

  Troubleshooting strategies when films show motionJanet Flanders rocked to one side ever so...

Issue 4, April 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Artifacts of life

  These artifacts are not the same sort of treasures Indiana Jones battled snakes to unearth. No...

• Carolina tech rides camel’s back to accreditation

  Dotty Belger doesn’t wish she could turn back the clock to the 1985 so she could convince...

• Complaining Jane has a case

  Resolve complaints more quickly than FDA calls for, public relations experts sayComplaints happen...

• Culture frock

  Gowns, lack of privacy violate Muslim, South Asian rulesMariam Bhabha felt awkward and embarrassed...

• Neurotic about lay summaries

  Is there any other way to be?The small town Ahoskie, NC, is so quiet you can actually hear...

Issue 3, March 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Cincinnati center picks SenoScan

  News comes as mammography debate reaches boilA new women’s imaging center in Cincinnati...

• Closed for business

  Michigan health officials have watched anxiously in recent years as a number of mammography...

• Poems, dinners keep employees happy

  Dawn Anderson says it comes down to managing people. “You want to keep the good...

• Primary care docs urge radiologists to discuss mammo results

  A Massachusetts Medical Society task force concluded recently that doctors didn’t order...

• Winter blues

  Washington site had 15 days to comply, or risk losing $90,000 each dayTwo U.S. hospitals...

Issue 2, February 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Anxiety in Alabaster

  Questionable hiring move backfires at Alabama centerIt’s August 7, 2001. The Food &...

• Assumption has no function

  Almost 90% of mammography facilities that received warnings last year for “missing...

• Controlling bromide key to stable processor

  There’s no shortage of film-processing options these days. The mammography marketplace is...

• Nine months to equipment deadline

  Reports of excessive darkroom fog are down and breast cancer mortality rates are falling...

• Peer pressure, one code at a time

  Comparison reports solidify coding educationAnd to think peer pressure is supposed to end...

• Unfit physicists

  Does your medical physicist measure up?Andrew Karellas, PhD, a medical physicist at...

Issue 1, January 21, 2002 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• A day in the life of a mobile tech

  A day in the life of a mobile tech

• Bowie buoy

  Bowie buoy

• 'Embarrassing' documentation gaps hurting mammography's future

  ’Embarrassing’ documentation gaps hurting mammography’s future

• Missouri radiology group violates patient privacy

  Missouri radiology group violates patient privacy

• MRR 2001 index

  MRR 2001 index

• Phantom menace

  Phantom menace

• Privacy tune-up

  Privacy tune-up

• See you in two years

  See you in two years