Much to the relief of clinicians and coders alike, CMS' recently announced new temporary codes for positron emission tomography (PET) scanning for breast cancer and myocardial viability will allow reimbursement to keep pace with current clinical practice.
Breast Cancer Codes Increase Coverage
Medicare will soon cover fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET for staging and restaging for local regional recurrence or metastasis of breast cancer, says Melody W. Mulaik, MSHS, CPC, president of Coding Strategies Inc. in Atlanta.
The new codes will take effect Oct. 1, 2002, but there is more immediate relief: Medicare now recognizes FDG PET as a means to monitor treatment of a locally advanced breast cancer tumor and metastatic breast cancer when a physician is contemplating a change in therapy.
Services these codes represent will be covered only as an adjunct to other imaging modalities like diagnostic mammography. Other diagnostic imaging procedures must be documented in the patient record to reflect that they were performed, Mulaik warns. Among the diagnostic imaging procedures that will support the new PET codes are:
PET Approved for Initial Myocardial Diagnoses
CMS has also loosened restrictions in the use of FDG PET for determining myocardial viability.
CMS now allows full- and partial-ring FDG PET scanning when it follows an inconclusive single photon emission computed tomography test (SPECT), e.g., 78464, Myocardial perfusion imaging; tomographic (SPECT), single study at rest or stress (exercise and/or pharmacologic), with or without quantification. The good news is that beginning Oct. 1, 2002, Medicare will cover FDG PET for the determination of myocardial viability as a primary or initial diagnostic study prior to revascular-ization, Mulaik says. It will continue to cover FDG PET when used as a follow-up to an inconclusive SPECT. But don't assume it's a two-way street: If a patient received a FDG PET study with inconclusive results, a follow-up SPECT is not covered.
You should report two codes for these services:
Reversing the current Coverage Issues Manual (CIM) (section 50-36), this latter modification actually reflects current clinical practice, Mulaik says. Because breast cancer typically responds quickly to therapy, women with locally advanced tumors and metastatic breast cancer may require frequent changes in chemotherapy early in the course of treatment. The PET procedure is valuable to treatment management under these circumstances. (This is actually a part of #CAG 00094A Decision Memorandum.)
These new codes are effective for dates of service on or after Oct. 1, 2002:
When it announced the new codes, CMS also said its policy of noncoverage of FDG PETs for initial breast cancer diagnosis and for initial staging of axillary lymph nodes will remain unchanged. These services are described in HCPCS Code G0252, which Medicare designates as a "not covered" service.
The new codes will be paid with diagnoses in the 174.0-174.9 series (Malignant neoplasm of female breast), but not with diagnoses that lack a specific finding of breast cancer, e.g., V16.3, Family history of malignant neoplasm; breast.