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Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

INFUSIONS:

Infusion Confusion Gone, Thanks To CMS

Published on Thu Apr 07, 2005

Transmittal states: Use G0350 once per session.

Providers who have been trying to squeeze their short-term infusions into the G-code for an intravenous push have good news.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services clarified in Transmittal 148 and Medlearn Matters article 3818 that providers should only use the IV push code G0353 for a push or infusion of less than 15 minutes.   Previously, CMS had said a provider must use G0353 for all infusions up to 30 minutes - and the code's descriptor calls for a provider's constant supervision.

In addition to the question of whether a professional must be present and supervising the infusion all the time, the medical community raised concerns "that an infusion is not a push and should not be coded as such," CMS notes.
 
The CPT Editorial Panel decided to change the definition of IV push for the 2006 CPT update, and CMS adopted the new definition as of March 15.

This change means that any infusion that lasts 16 minutes or more counts as the first hour of infusion, notes consultant Chris Acevedo with Acevedo Consulting in Delray Beach, FL.

The panel also decided to clarify that providers can only bill the concurrent infusion code once per day. This code is G0350 right now, but will become a CPT code next year. Providers can only use this code twice with modifier -59 (Distinct procedural service) if they provide the service during a second encounter with the same patient on the same day - and providers must include the proper supporting documentation.

These changes are "front page news," says Cindy Parman with Coding Strategies in Powder Springs, GA. "We know of practices that were billing G0350 for each concurrent drug."

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