Cardiology Coding Alert

Check your files for claims denied since Oct. 1, 2007, and collect your fees. You can add one more ICD-9 code to the short list that supports implantablecardioverter defibrillator services for Medicare patients outside of a clinical trial and not enrolled in a CMS-specified data registry. Here's the scoop on applying the change and perhaps recouping payment for past services rendered. Background: An automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD) has a pulse generator (battery) and electrodes that detect and treat life-threatening tachyarrhythmias (fast heart rhythms). Medicare covers AICD services in very specific cases, described in the National Coverage Determinations Manual (NCD Manual), Chapter 1, Part 1, Section 20.4. Through various transmittals, CMS has posted a handful of ICD-9 codes that support coverage without the patient needing to be enrolled in a clinical trial or CMSspecified data registry. But there are numerous other indications that Medicare covers only if the patient is [...]