Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

Plus: Look for new CLIA-waived tests effective October 1.

With the upcoming $44,000 per-physician electronic health record (EHR) incentive bonus in clear sight, many doctors are eager to adopt use of certified EHR systems. Until this week, it was unclear how to find out whether a system was certified, but that problem will soon be solved, thanks to a new HHS announcement.

On August 30, David Blumenthal, MD, national coordinator for health information technology with HHS, announced that "EHR vendors can begin immediately to get their products certified." Once the certification process is complete, physicians can "invest with confidence in these certified systems," Blumenthal noted.

Once the EHR system is confirmed as certified and your practice demonstrates "meaningful use" of it, each physician could qualify for the incentive payments, according to a final rule that CMS issued on July 28. For more on the EHR incentive program, read "Meet One of 7 CMS Requirements to Qualify for $44,000 Per-Provider EHR Incentive Payment" in Vol. 11, No. 30 of the Insider.

For details on how vendors can apply for EHR certification, visit http://healthit.hhs.gov/certification.

According to Transmittal 2038, CMS will now consider these tests CLIA-waived effective October 1. You'll have to append modifier QW (CLIA-waived test) to these codes, which include the following, among others:

To read the complete list of new CLIA-waived tests, visit http://www.cms.gov/transmittals/downloads/R2038CP.pdf.

Physician specialty code 12 just ain't what it used to be.

If you've been reporting your doctor's services using physician specialty code 12, take note of a new CMS change to the code's descriptor that will take effect on January 1, 2011. Whereas code 12 previously referred to "Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy," it now has the descriptor, "Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine."

CMS made the announcement in Transmittal 2035, issued on August 27. You can read the full transmittal, which also includes a listing of all of CMS's specialty codes, at http://www.cms.gov/Transmittals/downloads/R2035CP.pdf.