Home Health & Hospice Week

If you furnish Part B outpatient therapy to patients in the home, you should pay attention to a new round of edits for therapy practices. Heads up: Palmetto GBA will be conducting an outpatient physical therapy probe for private practices in Jurisdiction 11. Practices in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, will undergo review for the following CPT® codes: 97113 (aquatic therapy), 97110 (therapeutic exercises), 97530 (therapeutic activities), 97140 (manual therapy), 97112 (neuromuscular reeducation), 97116 (gait training), 97032 (electrical stimulation), 97016 (vasopneumatic devices), 97150 (group therapy), 97012 (traction), 97535 (self care/home management training), 97035 (ultrasound). A recent data analysis by Palmetto revealed 12 private practice settings billing a "significantly" high number of these codes. "Claims review will be performed on approximately 100 claims per state for each of the procedure codes selected," Palmetto says. The writing on the wall: All therapy or-ganizations should take this probe as a [...]