Three kinds of work under one roof
Practice support for podiatry practices has to fit an office that does several jobs at once. The same morning can hold routine nail and callus care, a diabetic foot ulcer that needs debridement and offloading, a post-operative check inside a global period, and a patient being fitted for therapeutic shoes.
Each has its own documentation rule, its own modifier question and its own supply need. Gateway takes on the tracking and logistics around them, so the podiatrist and staff are not doing that work between rooms.
Routine foot care and the documentation behind it
Routine foot care is a frequent source of denials because coverage depends on details outside the procedure itself. Medicare generally covers it only when a qualifying systemic condition is present. Claims commonly need documented class findings, the matching modifier, and for some conditions the name of the physician managing the condition and the date the patient was last seen.
Front desks spend real time chasing that date. We help build documentation workflows that collect it before the visit, prompt for class findings in the note and keep the interval since the last covered service in view. Templates are approved by your podiatrists.
Foot wounds, offloading and advanced products
Podiatrists manage a large share of diabetic and neuropathic foot ulcers. The administrative side includes dressing stock, casting and offloading supplies, vascular study orders that need to come back, and authorization for advanced products. Three services apply:
- Compression and offloading products: sourcing for walker boots, casting materials, post-operative shoes and related items, with a plan for which sizes the office keeps on hand
- Skin substitutes and advanced wound care products: ordering by size, and logs of product, amount applied, amount discarded and lot number
- Prior authorization tracking: status, missing records and expiration dates for each request
Which device or product a patient receives is the podiatrist’s decision.
Therapeutic shoes and other dispensed items
Dispensing from the office adds supplier rules to clinical ones. Therapeutic shoes for patients with diabetes, for example, generally require a certifying statement from the physician managing the patient’s diabetes, supporting records from that office, and documentation of fitting and delivery. The paperwork often takes longer than the fitting.
Through DME sourcing and coordination, we help track which documents are in hand, which have been requested and from whom, and whether the item has arrived. Whether your practice dispenses under its own supplier enrollment or sends orders to an outside supplier is your decision.
Procedures, modifiers and global periods
Podiatry claims lean on modifiers: a visit and a procedure on the same day, services reported by toe or by foot, and unrelated care during a post-operative period. With coding review support, proposed codes are compared with the note and with applicable edits before submission, and questions go to the podiatrist or your coder.
AI-assisted checks can flag a visit billed on the same day as a procedure for review. A flag does not justify a modifier. The documentation does, and the final decision is yours.
Foot care days in nursing facilities and assisted living
Many podiatrists spend one or more days a month in facilities. Those days depend on an accurate resident list, consents and face sheets, known eligibility dates and a staff member who brings residents to the room. Our facility visit coordination covers lists, schedules and the handoff of orders and notes to the building.
Patients with wounds between office visits
If a patient with a foot wound cannot get to your office as often as the wound needs, Gateway’s patient-facing side offers wound care coordination for podiatry practices. A partner clinician sees the patient at home or in a facility, and your office stays informed. That is a referral pathway, separate from practice support.
What stays with your practice
Clinical decisions, medical necessity, final coding decisions and responsibility for claims stay with your practice. Gateway does not select codes, decide who qualifies for covered foot care or choose devices.
How an engagement starts
Reach us through the practice support inquiry form or at 314-325-0126. We ask about your mix of office, surgical, wound and facility work, what you dispense and which denials repeat. Starting with one problem lets you judge the result before adding another.
Common questions
Can you chase the last-seen date and certifying paperwork from the patient’s physician?
We can help set up and run the tracking: which patients need the information, which office it was requested from, when, and what has come back. How requests are sent, and under whose name, is agreed with your practice at the start. The other physician’s office controls its own response, so we cannot promise a turnaround.
We operate at a surgery center. Does practice support cover surgical cases?
The office side of surgical work fits. That includes authorization tracking, records the facility asks for, post-operative visit scheduling and keeping the global period visible when later visits are coded. The surgery center or hospital runs its own scheduling and billing. Our part is keeping your practice’s list of open items current for each case.
Our office X-ray unit is aging. Can Gateway help us replace it?
We can help you compare options: specifications, installation and training needs, consumables, maintenance and ongoing service, and whether purchase or lease suits the practice. Availability and terms come from the supplier and are confirmed for each product. Regulatory requirements for imaging equipment remain your responsibility, and the choice of equipment is yours.
Does Gateway help with instruments and procedure kits for nail and callus care?
We help organize instrument sets and disposable-kit requirements for office procedures and facility days, and we source them through suppliers with reorder points set for the items you use most. Your practice sets its own instrument processing and infection-control policies. We work to the list and standards your podiatrists approve.