Top Ten 2019 Year-End Reminders for Chiropractic Physicians

Although the list below is not exhaustive, it does contain many of the critical deadlines and vital tasks for the end of 2019.  Please take a moment to ensure you have all your bases covered.

Medical Corporations, Professional Service Corporations & Limited Liability Companies:

Your medical or professional service corporation and LLC IDFPR licenses may require renewal by January 1, 2020.  Medical and professional service corporations and LLCs must register with IDFPR every three years.  If your entity is due for renewal, then the Department has sent out renewal forms – most likely by email. If you are not certain that your entity is registered, you should verify at IDFPR (Select Medical Corporation or Professional Service Corporation and enter your entity name then ensure that it does not say “NOT RENEWED”). If you have further questions about registration, please read this article. Over 80% of medical corporations with the word “back” in the name show “NOT RENEWED.”

Fee Schedules:

Obtain revised fee schedules from insurance carriers and update reimbursement changes in your billing systems. 

Medicare Participation:

Any changes to your Medicare participation must be made by December 31, 2019.  Physicians who want to change their status from participating to non-participating must do so by that date.  Here is the link to PECOS, which is the best way to modify your participation status. If you are not changing your participation status, then do nothing.

ABN Form:

The ICS believes this is a good time for our members to verify they are utilizing the correct ABN form.  Here is a video that discusses the proper timing for issuing an ABN form.

Non-participating Medicare providers must make changes to the form. This article here explains those changes.

Business Expenses:

Pay your Illinois Chiropractic Society dues for 2020 in 2019, if you have not already mailed your payment.  ICS dues are not deductible as a charitable contribution for federal income tax purposes, but your dues are partially deductible as a business expense.  ICS estimates that 90% of your dues may be deductible, as the 10% reduction is due to ICS’s direct lobbying activities on behalf of its members.

Contract Review:

Review your PPO contracts and insurance company medical policies.  Now is a great time to take an inventory of the specific provisions in the contracts that you have signed which affect your everyday office operations.  Additionally, the ICS encourages our members to review insurance company medical policies regularly.  Many of these policies are available online and are searchable by CPT code and diagnosis code.  Knowing exactly the terms to which you have agreed is paramount to a successful practice.

Medicare Fee Schedule:

The 2020 Medicare fee schedule is now available and can be accessed here (if the site requires sign in, choose sign in as a guest and re-click the link above). The ICS has prepared a video to walk you through finding your Medicare fees for 2019 – click here for that video.

Additionally, here is an article that gives you your Medicare locality.

Health Insurance Quote:

Don’t simply accept the rate increase you may have received from your health insurance carrier. Talk to your agent to determine if there is a similar plan or a different health insurer with more competitive rates.

Now may also be the time to find out if there are significant savings available through the ICS’ member plan. Find out more here.

Office Posters:

Take the time to update the posters in your office.  Although you may rely on posters purchased from your favorite office supply store, the mandatory posters are available at no charge.  The Illinois Chiropractic Society has developed a checklist for your office that includes links to the necessary posters and related requirements.  For a full listing, please see our FAQ titled “What posters/information am I required to hang in my office? Do I have to pay for them?“

There were important updates and changes to this list in 2019.

Charitable Contributions:

If you are determining where to make your last-minute charitable donations for 2019, the American Chiropractic Foundation and the Foundation for Chiropractic Education (501c3 sister of the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress) are both worth considering.