Practice Management Alert

With consult non-payment, you will need to relearn some old rules. While most coders know by now that the rumors swirling about consultation coding and payment changes were true, confusion still runs rampant about how you'll deal with the changes. The 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule indicates the consultation codes are invalid for Medicare purposes (www.cms.hhs.gov/PhysicianFeeSched/PFSRVF). You can now be certain Medicare won't pay for the codes. Now your job is to figure out how to report the consultation services your physician provides so that he'll get paid for his services -- by both Medicare and private payers. Turn to Initial Hospital Care Codes for Medicare Since Medicare will no longer reimburse you for office (99241-99245, Office consultation for a new or established patient ...) and inpatient (99251-99255, Inpatient consultation for a new or established patient ...) consultation codes, you must learn new ways to capture your physician's "consultation" services. [...]