Cardiology Coding Alert
Could Dual-Chamber Pacemaker Coverage See Improvements Soon?
Medicare’s reconsidering current policy.
Medicare may update dual-chamber pacemaker coverage, which could have an upside for your practice.
The Heart Rhythm Society and American College of Cardiology presented a joint request for Medicare to reconsider national coverage to bring it more in line with the current standard of care.
You can review the request letter at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coverage/DeterminationProcess/downloads/id267.pdf.
Keep tabs on the progress by looking under National Coverage Analyses (NCAs) at www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/indexes/national-and-local-indexes.aspx. Currently, you’ll find "Cardiac Pacemakers: Single-Chamber and Dual-Chamber Permanent Cardiac Pacemakers (3rd Recon)" listed as "open."
Cardiology Coding Alert
- Electrophysiology:
Add-On Codes Are Adding Trouble to 2013 EP Study and Ablation Claims
You have to dig deep to discover allowed primary codes for mapping and programmed stim. [...] - Good News for Bilateral 36222-+36228
Medicare’s April update to the Physician Fee Schedule corrects the bilateral status of cervicocerebral angiography [...] - News You Can Use:
Could Dual-Chamber Pacemaker Coverage See Improvements Soon?
Medicare’s reconsidering current policy. Medicare may update dual-chamber pacemaker coverage, which could have an upside [...] - CPT® 2013:
+92973 Coding Is Limited to Mechanical Thrombectomy
The aspiration thrombectomy question finally gets an answer. The 2013 addition of the term "mechanical" [...] - ICD-10-CM:
443.9 Will Translate to I73.9 for Next Year's PVD Cases
Check the I73.- range notes to keep up with all excluded diagnoses. When documentation shows [...] - You Be the Coder:
Search for Subclavian Stent Code
Question: Is there a code specific to placing a stent in the brachiocephalic or subclavian [...] - Reader Question:
36223 Covers Extracranial With Intracranial
Question: When I would code for a bilateral carotid angiogram in 2012, I would use [...] - Reader Question:
LC, LD, and RC May Have Been Overlooked
Question: Our Medicare contractor won’t accept modifiers LC, LD, and RC with the new PCI [...] - Reader Question:
Modifier 52 Plays a Role in Halted Stress Test
Question: During a nuclear stress test, the patient became claustrophobic and needed to stop. Normally [...] - Reader Question:
93458 Includes Pre-Op Encounter
Question: Can I report a consult for a heart cath done later that same day [...]
