Outsourced or in-house billing for your dermatology practice? The real cost, where revenue leaks, and five questions to answer before you switch.

On January 1, 2026, Medicare cut skin substitute pay ~90% to a flat $127.14/cm². What survives for plastic surgery and dermatology — and what doesn’t.

The Core Problem: One Code, Many Techniques The technique changes depending on the patient. The CPT code doesn’t. For top surgery — augmentation, reduction, mastectomy with nipple reconstruction — reimbursement is tied to the standard diagnosis for that procedure type. A reduction for macromasty and a reduction for masculinization carry the same code, same reimbursement, […]

What Is a Good Clean Claim Rate? Ninety-five percent. That’s the floor. The reciprocal is a 5% denial rate — which sounds manageable until you see how many follow-up hours that 5% generates downstream. Most practices below 95% aren’t losing to payer behavior. They’re losing to their own intake process. Three variables move this number […]

In plastic surgery billing, accounts receivable, often referred to as AR, rarely deteriorates overnight. More often, AR slowly drifts. Denials increase, aging stretches out, cash flow tightens, and leadership assumes it is a payer issue. AR is a slow burn… once you notice a fire is it often too late or at least you’ve lost […]

The Future of Medical Billing Technology Is Already Here Remember when “AI” sounded like something from a sci-fi movie? Yeah, same. Now it’s sitting in your billing software, quietly doing more in five seconds than a human could in five hours — without the caffeine dependency. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are no […]

You know what’s more complicated than medical billing? Explaining it to someone who’s never seen an EOB (Explanation of Benefits). But buckle up, because the next generation of billing tech is about to make that complexity look like child’s play — or, better yet, make it disappear. The world of healthcare billing is evolving faster […]

Medical billing services for small practices help independent doctors and clinics manage claim submissions, payments, and denials so they can focus on patient care instead of paperwork.  Outsourcing these services improves cash flow, reduces overhead, and provides access to billing experts without adding staff. The Hidden Struggle of Small Medical Practices Running a small medical […]

CPT 15877 Overview Procedure: Suction-assisted lipectomy (liposuction) of the trunkCategory: Integumentary system – Other Repair (Closure)Typical Use: Liposuction of abdomen, flanks, or backGlobal Period: 90 daysCommon Modifiers: 59, 51, 22, 50, 52 What Is CPT 15877? CPT code 15877 describes suction-assisted lipectomy of the trunk, the medical term for liposuction of areas like the abdomen, […]

If you code or bill for reconstructive or plastic surgery procedures, accuracy can make or break your claims.  CPT 15832, excision of excessive skin and subcutaneous tissue (includes lipectomy); thigh, is one of those codes that looks simple but requires precision to document and bill correctly. This guide from The Auctus Group breaks down CPT […]