Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Know what you can legitimately report with annual wellness visit. You can forget about Medicare providing you with a standard diagnosis code to use for your annual wellness visits (AWVs). That's the word from CMS's "ABC's of Initial Preventive Physical Exam and Annual Wellness Visit National Provider Call," which took place on July 21. Although many practices pressed the agency for information on which ICD-9 codes to report with AWVs, CMS stood fast in refusing to pinpoint any one particular code. "There are no specific ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes that are required to be included on an annual wellness visit bill," said CMS's Thomas Dorsey during the call. "Therefore, Medicare providers should choose an appropriate ICD-9-CM diagnosis code or contact the local Medicare contractor for guidance." When one caller asked whether a V code, such as V70.0 (Routine general medical examination at a health care facility), would be acceptable to bill [...]