Urology Coding Alert

Use this handy table to prepare for next year.

Every new year brings new reimbursement rates for urology practices. With luck, decreases and increases in relative value unit (RVU) assignments will balance each other out and your income, in general, will stay steady. But that often is not the case. Prepare your practice now by reviewing the RVU assignments for some commonly reported urology CPT® codes in the 2016 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

Note: This chart does not include every possible CPT® for every service your urologist may perform, either in the office or in a facility. We have included a sampling of codes to give you a general idea of where your reimbursement will settle for 2016. Double check the codes you report most often, including those not listed here.

Analysis: Most fee changes from 2015 are minimal — either a small decrease or a small increase in the fees for 2016. A laparoscopic radical retropubic prostatectomy (55866) is an exception, with a decrease in the 2015 fee of over 19 percent for the calendar year 2016.