Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

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If you were beginning to think that CMS had a specialty code for almost everything, you may have been right. The agency recently announced that it would be issuing new specialty code 'C1' to designate non-physician practitioners whose primary specialty is "centralized flu."

Although CMS does not expound on how to use the specialty code, most analysts believe that it will be used by facilities that perform mass flu immunizations. The new code will not be billable until midway through the upcoming flu season, since it takes effect on Jan. 1, 2013.

Specialty code C1 "is only applicable to the CMS-855B enrollment application," CMS notes in MLN Matters article MM7884. To read more about the new code, visit www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNMattersArticles/Downloads/MM7884.pdf.