Pulmonology Coding Alert

Question: Will I need to resubmit the claims I have submitted in 2006 to obtain the corrected physician fee schedule rate?


New Hampshire Subscriber

Answer: No. You don't have to take any action to receive the adjusted monies. Carriers will be able to speed the transition to the new fees within two business days now that the legislation was enacted in early February 2006, CMS says.

Medicare carriers will calculate the additional amount you'll be due and pay it to you as a lump sum no later than July 1. The exact date may vary depending on the number of claims a carrier must reprocess.

How it works: The president signed the budget bill that the House passed on Feb. 1. The conversion factor will revert back to the 2005 rate of 37.8975. The change is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2006, so you will eventually be unscathed by this year's 4.5 percent reduction.

For instance, before the law was enacted, a level-three office visit (1.39 nonfacility total relative value units on both the 2005 and 2006 National Physician Fee Schedule) would pay a national rate of $50.29 using the 2006 conversion factor of 36.1770. Now Medicare will pay 99213 at an unadjusted rate of $52.68 and reimburse you the $2.39 difference on all claims processed at the 2006 original rate.
 
Answers for You Be the Coder and Reader Questions were reviewed by Carol Pohlig, BSN, RN, CPC, senior coding and education specialist at the University of Pennsylvania department of medicine in Philadelphia; and Alan L. Plummer, MD, professor of medicine, division of pulmonary, allergy, and critical care at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.