Wiki Reporting more than 12 ICD codes to Medicare

[tatumroe]

Does anyone know the correct way to report additional ICD codes to Medicare that exceed 12 on the first claim? If a provider has 15 diagnosis codes addressed at his/her visit, 1-12 will be reported on the claim but how to we make sure Medicare gets 13-15? We were adding them to a second claim with a category II code but then found out that ICDs are only credited when they are on a claim with a face-to-face encounter. We also know we can't bill a duplicate claim with the same E&M code with ICDs 13-15 because we will run into duplicate denials and then raise an audit flag for so many duplicate denials. Can anyone help?

 

[thomas7331]

Medicare's instruction for professional claims is to report 'up to 12' diagnosis codes. There's no established way I know of to report more than that. I would report the just the 12 codes that most accurately and completely reflect the service provided. There is no 'credit' to be gained from trying to report additional codes and no requirement, compliance issue or negative financial impact that I've ever heard of that would make it necessary to report more than 12.