Consolidated billing requires skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) to bill Medicare Part A for all services, with a few exceptions, furnished to residents during a covered Part A stay. This addresses prior problems of duplicate billing by SNFs and outside providers to Parts A and B. It also reduces beneficiary coinsurance and improves SNF care coordination. While physician services remain billable to Part B, diagnostic tests must be billed through the SNF, with the professional component billable to Part B and the technical component included in the SNF's Part A per diem payment. Recent claims processing changes now automatically detect and reject improper Part B billing for technical components during a Part A stay.