Let's have a discussion regarding pathology billing, Medicare, APCs, late
charges, etc. 

We have a large Medicare patient population at our hospital. The changes
which began in August have caused serious problems for us in pathology. Our
business office has imposed a 3 day window for charging inpatients
(following discharge) and a 5 day window for outpatients (Day 1 is date of
service). As you know, this is often not enough time for pathology to
complete all charging - especially over a weekend. If we miss these windows,
we lose the money. How are you handling this problem in your hospitals?

Also - the extremely pesky MSP questionnaire - how are you handling that?
Medicare requires a signed sheet for each OP episode. Yesterday, we received
a request for Her 2 on a 98 case. The doctors office is quite upset - they
think it makes no sense to have the patient complete a form for that, but in
order to be reimbursed our business office does not register patients
without it. It's getting tight between this rock and a hard place that I'm
stuck in!  Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks, j

Joyce Weems
Pathology Manager
Saint Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta