Advanced Search

Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Annual Wellness Visits:

2012 Fee Schedule Boosts AWV Pay, Adds 'Health Risk Assessment' Tool Criteria

Published on Tue Nov 08, 2011

Look for five percent more in your annual wellness visit RVUs effective Jan. 1. Although your policies for performing and billing annual wellness visits has probably just barely been established, it's about to change slightly -- for the better. When CMS created annual wellness visit (AWV) codes G0438 and G0439 in 2011, the agency specified that the AWV should include a health risk assessment (HRA) to determine patients' potential risks, health status, and urgent health needs. The physician uses the information from the HRA to create the patient's personalized prevention plan. CMS discussed the HRA criteria with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which subsequently published its "Interim Guidance for Health Risk Assessments and their Modes of Provision for Medicare Beneficiaries," offering recommended criteria for HRAs. The document is available at www.cms.gov/coveragegeninfo/downloads/healthriskassessmentsCDCfinal.pdf. However, many practices were looking for an actual HRA form that CMS would publish and beneficiaries would complete -- and [...]
You’ve reached your limit of free articles. Already a subscriber? Log in.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe today to continue reading this article. Plus, you’ll get:
  • Simple explanations of current healthcare regulations and payer programs
  • Real-world reporting scenarios solved by our expert coders
  • Industry news, such as MAC and RAC activities, the OIG Work Plan, and CERT reports
  • Instant access to every article ever published in Revenue Cycle Insider
  • 6 annual AAPC-approved CEUs
  • The latest updates for CPT®, ICD-10-CM, HCPCS Level II, NCCI edits, modifiers, compliance, technology, practice management, and more

Other Articles in this issue of

Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

View All