Don't omit the proposal to expand the MPPR starting from technical to professional payment.
As if imaging practices didn't get sufficient bad news in 2011, CMS's payment proposals for 2012 show the situation could get even worse. Look out for the proposed fee schedule changes, as well as news for MRI and Advance Beneficiary Notices (ABNs). Read on for expert radiology medical coding information and take a step closer towards accurate and profitable radiology coding.
1. Concentrate on Possible Imaging Fee Cuts
CMS released its planned Medicare Physician Fee Schedule(MPFS) for 2012. The 621-page document proposes a look into how the agency organizes its relative value unit (RVU) assignments.
Imaging pay, hit rigid over the last years, will observe additional cuts in case the proposed rule is finalized. Presently, while you carry out numerous radiological procedures on the Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction (MPPR) list in a single session, Medicare decreases the technical component of the lower paid procedure(s) by 50 percent.
However Supercoder CMS wishes to further decrease those payments, noting in the proposal,
The cuts: CMS is suggesting that in 2012, it will not only reduce the technical component of radiological procedures by 50 percent, but also will slash the professional component by 50 percent. It also maintains that payment cuts to radiology procedures could be even more in 2013 and beyond.
Professional societies were fast to criticize CMS's radiology cuts. The AMA strongly opposes a proposal to use noteworthy cuts to Medicare payments for diagnostic imaging to balance the cost of a trade agreement.
Besides, various radiologists maintained that multiple interpretations of exams carried out on one patient aren't less tedious than multiple interpretations of distinct patients. The time, intensity, as well as the mental effort it takes to interpret an individual exam is comparatively persistent irrespective of whether the patients' exams are interpreted distinctly or at the similar session. Medicare must support such quality care and not constantly attempt to weaken it.
Coverage for MRI Update Is Now Official
CMS has offered decision memo in support of including MRI scans for patients with MRI-safe pacemakers. At the present that decision memo is declared official.
CMS is firm that the evidence is sufficient to determine that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) develops health results for Medicare beneficiaries with implanted permanent pacemakers (PMs) while the PMs are used as per the FDA approved labeling for use in an MRI environment.
Use New ABN by Nov. 1
It might appear like just yesterday that you moved to the most recent version of the ABN, but it's in reality time to upgrade again to a newer version.
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