Healthcare providers say Medicare is going to short-change them on patients who spend fewer than two nights in the hospital, and delaying implementation of a new payment policy until October…
Remember to check for updated or revised guidelines when preparing to use your new code books for 2011, not just code descriptors. CPT 2011 includes new details for coding some common injection procedures, as pointed out at the AMA’s CPT and RBRVS 2011 Annual Symposium in Chicago. Read on for a few pointers to help stay on the right track.
The introduction of new codes for paravertebral facet joint injections in 2010 (64490-64495) meant changes to how you reported related codes. During the CPT and RBRVS Symposium, Douglas G. Merrill, MD, MBA, of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, pointed out two revised guidelines dealing with paravertebral facet (spinal) joint procedures.
Instructions in CPT 2010 directed you to report 64999 (Unlisted procedure, nervous system) if the provider used ultrasound guidance during paravertebral facet joint injections. The AMA released a correction later in 2010, and the CPT 2011 clarifies the situation. If your provider used ultrasound guidance when administering paravertebral facet joint injections, report the appropriate code(s) from 0213T-0218T (Injection[s], diagnostic or therapeutic agent, paravertebral facet [zygapophyseal] joint [or nerves innervating that joint] with ultrasound guidance …).
T12-L1 change: CPT 2010 guidelines mandated that you report 64493 (Injection[s], diagnostic or therapeutic agent, paravertebral facet [zygapophyseal] joint [for nerves innervating that joint] with image guidance [fluoroscopy or CT], lumbar or sacral; single level) for an injection to the T12-L1 joint, or nerves innervating that joint. New 2011 guidelines direct you to submit 64490 (Injection[s], diagnostic or therapeutic agent, paravertebral facet [zygapophyseal] joint [for nerves innervating that joint] with image guidance [fluoroscopy or CT], cervical or thoracic; single) instead.
In addition, the 2011 guidelines direct providers to report paravertebral facet joint injections performed without image guidance with the appropriate trigger point injection code. Submit either 20552 or 20553 (Injection[s]; single or multiple trigger...
If you’ve been looking for a code on colon motility study and being frustrated for the lack of it, your search is over. CPT 2011 debuts a new code for a manometric study, along with two revised codes for esophageal pH monitoring.
For gastroenterology, you have a lot of changes to sort through — many involving deletions on low use codes or clean-up work.
Here’s How to Use New Manometric Study Codes
You should pay attention on two new codes for a manometric study: 91117 (Colon motility [manometric] study, minimum 6 hours continuous recording [including provocation tests, e.g., meal, intracolonic balloon distension, pharmacologic agents, if performed], with interpretation and report), and 91013 (Esophageal motility [manometric study of the esophagus and/or gastroesophageal junction] study with interpretation and report; with stimulation or perfusion during 2-dimensional data study [e.g., stimulant, acid or alkali perfusion] [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure]).
CPT 91117 is just for the study itself, not for the same session with catheter placement. The radiologist may place the catheter in a prior procedure and the gastroenterologist may come in and out to supervise the testing and any provocations that are performed. Thus, you should include the provocations in the study and report 97117 only once no matter how many times the testing is done.
You can use 91013 in cases like assessment of the effect on the measured esophageal motility when the patient’s esophagus is exposed to different stimulant liquids, says Michael Weinstein, MD, a gastroenterologist in Washington, D.C., and former member of the AMA’s CPT Advisory Panel. The code also applies when intravenous medications are administered to try to produce symptoms. CPT 91010 is included in 91013 and would not be billed separately, he adds.
Use 91034, 91035 in a New Way
Aside from debuting...
Question: I’m receiving contradictory guidance on which modifier to use when a gastroenterologist does an incomplete colonoscopy. Should I use modifier 52 or 53? Answer: CPT 2011 ends the days of arguing over whether to use modifier 52 or 53 for ...
Question: I would like to know the correct codes for billing a PPD test provided in the office. Should I use 86580 with V74.1 and what should I bill for the PPD administration? Answer: You are using the correct diagnosis code: V74.1 (Special screening ...
Amidst an AMA lawsuit, the FTC appears to take a wait-and-see approach.
After a year’s worth of extensions of the Red Flags Rule, medical practices were ready to buckle down and ensure that their plans were in place, because the rule was set to take effect on June 1.
However, just days shy of that deadline, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it would be delaying enforcement until Dec. 31, 2010, “at the request of several Members of Congress,” according to a May 28 FTC news release.
Under the Red Flags Rule, “certain businesses and organizations — including many doctor’s offices, hospitals, and other health care providers — are required to spot and heed the red flags that often can be the telltale signs of identity theft,” according to an article on the Federal Trade Commission’s Web site.
To comply with the Red Flags Rule, covered entities are expected to create a written red flags program to prevent and detect potential identity theft cases.
According to the FTC, the rule applies to businesses that qualify as creditors or financial institutions, and the FTC’s broad definition indicates that it applies to many medical practices. “Health care providers are creditors if they bill consumers after their services are completed,” the FTC Web site says. “Health care providers that accept insurance are considered creditors if the consumer ultimately is responsible for the medical fees.”
However, simply “accepting credit cards as a form of payment does not make you a creditor under the rule.”
Congress requested the delay in part to “pass legislation that will resolve any questions as to which entities are covered by the Rule,” the FTC press release indicated. “Congress needs to fix the unintended consequences of the legislation establishing the Red Flags Rule — and to...
Plus: The OIG recovered over $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2009, and is on the lookout to collect more.
With less than two weeks to go before Medicare payments once again threaten to decrease by 21 percent, a new report sheds light on the financial outcome of Congressional actions.
Although the 2010 Physician Fee Schedule originally included a conversion factor that would have been 21 percent lower than the 2009 level, practices haven’t felt that cut yet this year,because legislators have voted several times to freeze payments, which now use the conversion factor of $36.0791. That freeze will expire on May 31, after which your Medicare payments will drop considerably unless Congress steps in once more.
However, one government entity’s calculations show that the freeze is costly. According to a May 7 Congressional Budget Office report, freezing payments at the current levels for the rest of 2010 would cost the government… … $6.5 billion. The AMA has turned up the heat on Congress to replace the current payment method, releasing a print ad aimed at Congress to demonstrate that “more delays of permanent reform now increase the cost for taxpayers,” and that the association “calls on Congress to fix the flawed Medicare physician payment formula now.”
Congress has not yet introduced a bill to extend the payment freeze past May 31. Keep an eye on the Insider for more information as this story develops.
To read the Congressional Budget Office’s calculation sheet,visit www.cbo.gov/budget/factsheets/2010b/SGR-menu.pdf.
@ Part B Insider. Editor: Torrey Kim, CPC
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But because legislators missed the cutoff by one day, some claims were processed using a lower rate.Although the government appeared poised to take a big bite out of your next Part B payments, you have another month before...
Find out what steps Congress must take to delay the much feared 21.2 percent pay cut.If a new bill — already approved by the Senate — moves forward, you could have another six months before the 21.2 percent...
Medicare’s elimination of payment for consultation services has caused mass confusion throughout the coding community, not just due to the changes it has caused in your billing procedures, but also due to lack of information from CMS.
In an apparent…
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