Posts Tagged HCPCS
In 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) unveiled a new benefit to address the need for annual care for seniors. It was widely hailed as a wonderful thing for Medicare patients who previously had no preventive care unless they paid out-of-pocket for a “complete physical.” What some people overlook is that the new Medicare benefit includes no actual physical examination of any kind.
Doug Palmer is a practice management, billing and coding and revenue cycle consultant with over 17 years of experience in the industry. He was nice enough to answer some questions for our readers about his experiences and where he sees coding going in the future.
MMP: How did you get started in coding?
Doug: I started in the industry as a medical biller with a billing company in NY City. In a rather short period of time, I became familiar with the coding systems (COT, ICD-9, and HCPCS) and began to want to know more. I also wanted to know more about the overall Revenue Cycle Process. That starting point in billing led me to coding for several reasons. Aside from personal and professional development, I realized that I would be more marketable with that skill set. I was right. As I learned more and more about coding…more and more opportunities seemed to come my way.
MMP: What type of coding education and certification do you have?
Doug: I have gotten most of my education in coding “on the job”. I have attended many seminars, CEU courses, internal education opportunities with employers, etc., however, I have never matriculated into any formal or long term courses of study in coding other than a BS in Health Administration which did not specifically focus on coding. At the same time, with my CCS-P Certification through AHIMA, I have taught coding and related courses both in a formal classroom environment in several adult education schools as well as providing on site education as well as web based instruction to other coders as well as medical providers across the country.
MMP: What was your first coding consultant position and how did it come about?
The new winner of my ongoing competition for the CMS Employee Speaker contest is Dr. Daniel Duvall, Medical Officer, Hospital and Ambulatory Policy Group Center for Medicare! During a recent ICD-10 call, Dr. Duvall spoke clearly, was easy to understand and kept my attention.
There is no one, and I do mean no one, in your medical practice who does not need to know the basics of coding. Here is why:
When staff understands how important their contribution is to the financial viability of the practice and how all the pieces fit together, they are more incentivized to perform.
The death of Google’s Personal Health Record (PHR) should be a wake up call to everyone about electronic medical records (EMR) – it’s not a walk in the park!
Granted, the fact that EMR is very complex software is not the only reason Google Health couldn’t hack it. Many fine articles and blogs point to under-marketing, an unrealistic reliance on consumers to enter data to complete their own records, unusually slow adoption by consumers, and a possibly unrealistic revenue model (selling data.) I’m pretty sure the readers of Manage My Practice could have predicted most of that, especially the part where consumers are not incentivized to enter their own health information.
Here’s my advice to anyone who wants to capture the health data market:
Posted in: Electronic Medical Records, Headlines
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The DENOMINATOR is the visit code that is eligible for an eprescribing code (see list below.)
Patient visit during the reporting period (CPT or HCPCS): 90801, 90802, 90804, 90805, 90806, 90807, 90808, 90809, 90862, 92002, 92004, 92012, 92014, 96150, 96151, 96152, 99201, 99202, 99203, 99204, 99205, 99211, 99212, 99213, 99214, 99215, 99304, 99305, 99306, 99307, 99308, 99309, 99310, 99315, 99316, 99324, 99325, 99326, 99327, 99328, 99334, 99335, 99336, 99337, 99341, 99342, 99343, 99344, 99345, 99347, 99348, 99349, 99350, G0101, G0108, G0109
The NUMERATOR is a prescription generated and transmitted via a qualified eRx system and reported using a quality data code.
G8553: At least one prescription created during the encounter was generated and transmitted electronically using a qualified eRx system (reported via claims, a registry, or an EHR.)
Please note that earning an eRx incentive for 2011 will NOT necessarily exempt an eligible professional or group practice from the payment adjustment in 2012.
An eligible professional can avoid losing 1% in 2012 if (s)he:
G8642 – The eligible professional practices in a rural area without sufficient high speed internet access and requests a hardship exemption from the application of the payment adjustment under section 1848(a)(5)(A) of the Social Security Act.
G8643 – The eligible professional practices in an area without sufficient available pharmacies for electronic prescribing and requests a hardship exemption from the application of the payment adjustment under
section 1848(a)(5)(A) of the Social Security Act
For a list of qualified registries and qualified EHR vendors and products, click here.
An excellent article, Choosing the Right E-prescribing Application: Should you buy a standalone app or an EHR-integrated module? was published in January 2011 by Physicians Practice here.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
CMS has created specific HCPCS codes and payment allowances to replace CPT code 90658 for Medicare billing purposes for the 2010-2011 influenza season. Note that these HCPCS codes will not be recognized by the Medicare claims processing systems until January 1, 2011, when CPT code 90658 will no longer be recognized.
For additional information on providing the flu shot, see my previous post here.
Posted in: Medicare & Reimbursement
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If you have questions about each company’s exact criteria met, you are in luck! On the ONC site here, you can click on each company’s detail (“View Criteria”) on the far right column labeled “Certification Status” to see what they have and don’t have. Compare this to how you are anticipating using your EMR to meet meaningful use. The more check marks a company has, the better-equipped they are (and more flexible) to meet your practice needs and to qualify for the stimulus money.
The ONC site with the Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL) is Version 1.0. Version 2.0 is now being developed and will provide the Clinical Quality Measures each product was tested on, and the capability to query and sort the data for viewing. The next version will also provide the reporting number that will be accepted by CMS for purposes of attestation under the EHR (“meaningful use”) incentives programs.
You can tell ONC what you think would be helpful in the new version by emailing your ideas to ONC.certification@hhs.gov, with “CHPL” in the subject line.
If you’d like a list of just outpatient/medical practice EMR products or just inpatient / hospital products, I’ve split the big list into two smaller printable lists here:
Remember that meeting meaningful use does not tell the whole story – if you are shopping for an EMR be prepared to go beyond a product’s certification status to consider:
Update posted 8-14-2012: For flu shot updates for the 2012-2013 influenza season, click here.
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Update posted 9-22-2011: For flu shot updates for the 2011-2012 influenza season, click here.
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Update Posted 12-20-2010 – Medicare posted code changes for flu vaccines billed to Medicare after January 1, 2011. Click here for the changes.
For dates of service on or after September 1, 2010, the corrected Medicare Part B payment allowance for CPT 90655 is $14.858.
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It’s that time again, and despite delayed deliveries to some hospitals and practices, the word on the street is that there will be enough flu vaccine (171 million doses) this year for all who want a flu shot.
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The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that everyone 6 months and older get a flu shot. Each year’s flu vaccine cocktail is unique and this season’s (2010-2011) flu vaccine will protect against three different flu viruses: an H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus and the H1N1 virus that caused so much illness last season.
Just in time for flu season is the Affordable Care Act’s emphasis on preventive care. The ACA states:
This influenza season, children 6 months through 18 years, certain high-risk adults 19 through 49 years, and adults 50 years and older who are enrolled in new group and individual health plans will be eligible to receive the seasonal flu vaccine without cost-sharing when provided by an in-network provider. Beginning in the plan year that starts after March 2, 2011, all adults 19-49 years of age will be eligible to receive the seasonal flu vaccine with no cost-sharing requirements when provided by an in-network provider.
This is great news for the patient and for healthcare in general. You may consider it good news or bad news, depending on your view of the whole flu shot process. Here’s how it works in many practices:
Medicare pays 100% of the allowable for influenza vaccine (and pneumococcal vaccines) and the administration of the vaccines without any out-of-pocket costs to the patient. One flu vaccine is allowable per flu season, but Medicare will pay for a second flu shot if a physician determines and documents the medical necessity. A physician’s order is not necessary and a physician’s supervision is not necessary – that’s why patients are able to get a flu shot at the drugstore. A patient can receive a flu shot twice in one calendar year by getting a flu shot late in one season and getting a flu shot early in the next season.
CMS typically does not allow non-enrolled providers to treat Medicare beneficiaries, however, CMS is allowing them to give flu shots this year. Beneficiaries can receive a flu vaccine from any licensed physician or provider. However, the billing procedure will vary depending on whether the physician or provider is enrolled in the Medicare Program.
If you are not a Medicare-enrolled physician or provider who gives a flu vaccine to a Medicare beneficiary, you can ask the beneficiary for payment at the time of service. The beneficiary can then request Medicare reimbursement. Medicare reimbursement will be approximately $18 for each flu vaccine.
To request reimbursement, the beneficiary will need to obtain and complete form CMS 1490S. So the beneficiary may receive reimbursement, you will need to provide the beneficiary with a receipt for the flu vaccine that has the following information written or printed on it:
”¢ The doctor’s or provider’s name and address
”¢ Service provided (“flu vaccine”)
Ӣ Date flu vaccine received
Ӣ Amount paid
For flu vaccine and vaccine administration, the following codes are used.
Effective September 1, 2009, (no 2010 changes have been announced) the Medicare Part B payment allowances for influenza vaccines are as follows:
G0008 is the Medicare HCPCS for Administration of influenza virus vaccine, including FluMist. Other payers usually require use of 90465, 90466, 90467, 90468, 90471, 90472, 90473 or 90474 for administration of the vaccine.
The associated ICD-9 codes for flu shots are:
V04.81 Influenza
V06.6 Pneumococcus and Influenza (both vaccines at one visit)
NOTE: Beneficiaries have been advised to contact the Inspector General hotline at 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477) to file a complaint if they believe their physician or provider charged an unfair amount for a flu vaccine.
Here’s your pop quiz:
The NCCI edits are:
A. pairs of services that should not be billed by the same physician for the same patient on the same day.
B. definition refinements for HCPCS codes.
C. diagnosis codes (ICD-9) that cannot be billed together on a CMS 1500 claim.
The answer is below the picture.
Image by sxyblkmn via Flickr
If you answered “A”, you’re on top of your game! The King of the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) quarterly analysis is Mr. Frank Cohen and he provides that analysis free of charge for all. Thank you, Frank! With his analysis, you have the opportunity to see what’s changed and what’s new, to tweak your system to catch the pairs, and to make sure you are providing the right care at the right time as well as maximizing your reimbursement.
In summary, there are 16,843 new edit pairs, bringing the total number of active edit pairs to 653,718. Six of these are backdated to an effective date of January 1, 2010. The majority of these (75.17%) are associated to the edit policy “Misuse of column two code with column one code” with 12.82% associated to “Standard preparation / monitoring services for anesthesia”. There are 6,042 unique Column 1 codes and 274 unique Column 2 Codes within the new edits.
I have posted my analysis worksheets for those interested in the details. Go to www.frankcohen.com and click on the Download tab.
