Cardiology Coding Alert

If you have a physician who qualifies, watch for 3 key coverage requirements.On Nov. 8, CMS announced it will cover an annual cardiovascular disease prevention visit for all beneficiaries."Access to preventive services helps Medicare beneficiaries identify health risk factors and disease early to provide greater opportunities for early treatment," said CMS administrator Donald Berwick, MD, in a Nov. 8 statement. Snag: Before you get too excited, take note that CMS is restricting the preventive visit mainly to non-specialists. "The visit must be furnished by primary care practitioners, such as a beneficiary's family practice physician, internal medicine physician, or nurse practitioner, in settings such as physicians' offices," CMS said in its Nov. 8 email about the coverage. The Decision Memorandum itself also adds geriatric medicine practitioners and ob-gyns to the list of specialties eligible to perform the benefit. If your practice includes those who qualify as primary care practitioners, be sure [...]