Coding Resource Center
June 2021
The American Medical Association (AMA), American College of Radiology (ACR) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) are opposing the rebranding of physician assistants as “physician associates”. This response comes as a result of the passage of a resolution by the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) House of Delegates, officially changing the designation to “physician […]
The FY 2022 ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes have been released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and are available on the CDC ICD-10-CM Home Page. Still pending are the 2022 Official Coding and Reporting Guidelines, which were not included with the new codes; as well as the FY 2022 Final Rule for Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) which is […]
The ICD-10 Procedural Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) codes and updates for FY 2022 have been released, and are available on the 2022 ICD-10-PCS page of the CMS website. These codes are to be used for discharges occurring from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022. The update files include official coding and reporting guidelines, code tables, […]
May 2021
The price transparency rule, which went into effect January 1, 2021, requires hospitals to publish a machine-readable filed that outlines their payer-negotiated payment rates. Also required as part of the rule, hospitals must provide a tool that allows consumers to search and view the prices of 300 shoppable medical services. The Centers for Medicare and […]
The proposed rule to modify the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), issued in December 2020, applies to health information maintained or transmitted by HIPAA-covered entities, including providers, health plans and clearinghouses. The goal of the proposed rule is to make information sharing more efficient during the COVID pandemic as well as […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) delayed the effective date for its final rule codifying how it defines “reasonable and necessary” coverage for items and services furnished under Medicare Parts A and B, through December 15, 2021. The rule also establishes a Medicare coverage pathway for innovative medical devices designated as breakthrough by […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released interpretive guidance on hospital admission, discharge, and transfer notification requirements outlined in its May 2020 final rule on interoperability and patient access, which includes Medicare conditions of participation (CoPs) for hospitals, psychiatric hospitals and critical access hospitals. The new CoPs are included in the medical records […]
Since Category I codes are only released once per year, the American Medical Association (AMA) releases editorial updates to the AMA website in the form of CPT® errata and technical corrections. Errata are the revisions to the CPT® code set which are needed to correct editorial errors. Technical corrections are revisions to the CPT® code […]
April 2021
H.R. 1868, which extends the moratorium of the 2% sequestration payment adjustment, was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President on April 14, 2021. The moratorium will extend through December 21, 2021. Since the moratorium has been extended, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act suspended the sequestration payment adjustment percentage of 2% applied to all Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) claims from May […]
On April 15, 2021, Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the renewal of the public health emergency (PHE) declared due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The PHE was originally declared on January 31, 2020; and renewed on April 21, 2020, July 25, 2020, October 23, 2020 and January 7, 2021. These extensions were in […]
