Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement
Chiropractors Aren't Eligible to Order/Refer Services to Medicare Beneficiaries, CMS Says
As if Medicare's ordering/referring guidelines aren't murky enough, CMS has added another change to the process that could affect your Part B practice. According to an email that CMS distributed on Aug. 17, chiropractors are not eligible to order and refer items or services to Medicare beneficiaries. Noting that chiropractors were "incorrectly included" in previous lists of physicians and practitioner types that can order and refer, CMS pointed out that the Social Security Act and other documents previously included the phrase, "doctors of chiropractic medicine are not eligible to order and refer," so CMS is revising documents to reflect this. "Medicare coverage extends only to treatment by means of manual manipulation of the spine to correct a subluxation," CMS explains in the email. "All other services furnished or ordered by chiropractors are not covered." CMS makes it easier for you to determine the source of Medicare payments It's always nice to get money from Medicare, but when you don't know why your MAC is sending you a certain payment, it can take up precious time to track down where to apply the reimbursement. CMS aims to remedy part of that issue with new remittance codes. The agency began issuing incentive payments for the 2010 Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program (eRx) last week, and alerted practices to several remittance indicators so they can match the payments to the correct sources. If you see indicator "LE," you'll know you're collecting for an incentive payment. Further, the additional code "RX10" refers to the 2010 eRx program. For more information about the payments, read "A Guide for Understanding the 2010 eRx Incentive Payment" at www.cms.gov/ERxIncentive/Downloads/Guide_Understanding_2010_eRx_Incentive_Payment_06-20-2011.pdf.
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