Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Program Transmittal Roundup

The HHS Office of Inspector General and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have been hounding hospitals to beef up compliance on patient status codes for patients who are discharged to post-acute settings. And according to a recent program transmittal (change request 3240), hospitals can soon look forward to word from their fiscal intermediaries that changing a patient status code to indicate a transfer won't get them into hot water with the OIG, even if the change doesn't jibe with the hospital's medical records.
 
The transmittal says CMS will soon issue a related article on its Web site at www.cms.hhs.gov/medlearn/matters.

In other recent program transmittals, CMS:

lays out updated transitional outpatient payment policies under the outpatient prospective payment system (CR 3214);
updates the healthcare provider taxonomy codes (CR 3188);
announces the latest version of the provider statistical and reimbursement reporting system (CR 3182);
notes that there will be no update to the laboratory national coverage determination edit module for July 2004 (CR 3210); and
issues the latest quarterly update to the skilled nursing facility no-pay file (CR 3238).

To see the program transmittals, go to http://cms.hhs.gov/manuals/transmittals/comm_date_dsc.asp.
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 your eNewsletter
  • 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
*CEUs available with select eNewsletters.

Other Articles in this issue of

Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

View All