Reimbursement:
Use These 8 New HHA Billing Codes Correctly Starting Jan. 1
Published on Wed Nov 17, 2010
Don't waste time waiting for an official transmittal from Medicare. You'll have 14 discipline and service HCPCS codes to use in the new year, and you need to have the procedures to back them up. Old way: Currently home health agencies use six G codes to bill for visits by nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, medical social workers, and home health aides. New way: Starting Jan. 1, you'll add eight codes to bill visits for nursing management and evaluation, nursing observation and assessment, nursing education and training, PT assistant, PT maintenance program, OT assistant, OT maintenance program,and speech therapy maintenance program (see chart,this page). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized the new HCPCS codes in the prospective payment system final rule for 2011, published in the Nov. 17 Federal Register. CMS takes aim at two perceived problems with the codes -- overuse of therapy assistants and [...]