Implications for cardiology nurse practitioner billing: a comparison of hospital versus office practice.
OBJECTIVE
To discuss the implications for cardiology nurse practitioner (NP) billing and compare and contrast inpatient Medicare billing practices versus outpatient Medicare billing practices.


METHODS
Selected articles, text books, and government websites.


CONCLUSIONS
In today's complex and expensive healthcare system, there has been a steady decline in the reimbursement rate for professional services to hospitals and physicians. NPs can have a significant impact on reducing this decline by billing for services provided.


CONCLUSIONS
The cardiology NP can enhance institutional reimbursement quality and patient safety. The different billing methods such as independent billing, shared billing, and incident to billing by the cardiology NP can be complex.
Hull-Grommesh
Lori
L
Operations for Advanced Practice, Memorial Hermann Hospital, Texas Medical Center, and School of Nursing, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. Cardiac-Kid@att.net
Ellis
Elizabeth Fuselier
EF
Mackey
Thomas A
TA
D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000191:economics*; D002309:Cardiology / Q000191:economics*; D004469:Economics, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007349:Insurance, Health, Reimbursement / Q000191:economics*; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000191:economics*; D009819:Office Visits / Q000191:economics*; D011445:Prospective Payment System / Q000191:economics; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States