The feds are trying to make it easier for you to figure out exactly how much your referring physicians will earn by billing for their home health and hospice certifications, recertifications, and care plan oversight. CMS has a new website where you can look up any physician HCPCS code and obtain the payment amount. On the site, you can also select a specific locality from a drop-down menu to determine the geographically adjusted payment amount physicians will receive from Medicare. The website is at
www.cms.gov/apps/physician-fee-schedule/overview.aspx. Physicians use G1079 for home health episode recertification, G0180 for the initial cert, G0181 for HHA care plan oversight, and G0182 for hospice CPO. For example: In San Mateo, Calif., Medicare pays docs $38.94 for G1079 (home health episode recert), $51.24 for G0180 (initial cert), $101.68 for G0181 (HHA CPO), and $103.48 for G0182 (hospice CPO).
