Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Away from Level II edit pairs or miss drug screen pay

With effect from July 1, owing to the CCI edits version 16. 2, you have plenty of new pairs to stay on top of for your lab. CMS urges labs to report the following new 2010 HCPCS Level II codes for certain drug screen testing for Medicare beneficiaries.

The agency provides further coding instruction in the form of CCI edit pairs that restrict the use of these codes. The latest CCI 16.2 bundles G0430 with chromatography codes 82486-82489 (Chromatography, qualitative ). Likewise, you have new pairs bundling G0431 with 83516-83518.

The drug screen G codes describe testing using a particular method and you should not additionally report a code for the method.

The latest edits also bundle the drub screen G codes with lab consultation codes 80500-80502 (Clinical pathology consultation …).

Tele-health or consult – go for one

If you are reporting HCPCS Level II codes for physician telehealth services, the latest CCI codes ensure you don’t report those codes together with a clinical lab consultation.

For more on the latest CCI codes and HCPCS Level II codes, sign up for a one-stop medical coding website. When you register yourself for one, you can do a HCPCS 2010 code look up and get all the information you need to know. Onboard such a site, you will also get reimbursement tools like CCI edit alerts that will help you stay up to date on all changes relating to CCI codes. In fact, such a site will provide you with all the coding information you need to stay on top.