Radiology Coding Alert

Due to the late implementation of the 2003 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule , Medicare carriers overpaid some practices for January and February claims using a higher conversion factor rate, which did not take effect until March 1 and this error worked to your advantage.

CMS initially announced that carriers would request reimbursement from these practices by using an automatic mass adjustment. Fortunately, on June 27, CMS announced that it would not require Medicare carriers to collect such overpayments. If, however, you alert your payer to any incorrect overpayments that you received for January and February claims, the carrier can still request a refund from your practice.