What's New from CMS

Listing of current Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) program information

Physician Payment Amounts When Physicians Furnish Excluded Procedures in Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs). Effective for dates of service on or after January 1, 2008, Medicare will pay physicians at the facility rate for furnishing procedures in ASCs that are excluded from the list of covered ASC procedures. CMS is implementing his policy beginning January 5, 2009. In essence, the fee paid on all physician services performed in ASCs (place of service code of 24) will be the lower facility fee and not the non-facility fee. (CR6052)

Clarification of Medicare Payment for Routine Costs in a Clinical Trial - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reminds providers that the policies for payment of the routine costs of the clinical trial are outlined in chapter 16, section 40 of the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual (SE0822)

This Special Edition article outlines general information for providers detailing the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition (ICD-10) classification system. Compared to the current ICD-9 classification system, ICD-10 offers more detailed information and the ability to expand specificity and clinical information in order to capture advancements in clinical medicine. Providers may want to become familiar with the new coding system.
The system is not yet implemented in Medicare's fee-for-service (FFS) claims processes so no action is needed at this time. (SE0832)

This article is informational and is based on Change Request (CR) 6062 that notifies providers that the spreadsheet containing an updated list of the HCPCS codes for DME MAC and Part B local carrier or A/B MAC jurisdictions is updated annually to reflect codes that have been added or discontinued (deleted) each year. The spreadsheet is helpful to billing staff by showing the appropriate Medicare contractor to be billed for HCPCS appearing on the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet