It's that time of the year again and the list is changing once more...new telephone codes this year as well... use the link to read the entire article at Medical Economics...BD
To avoid having claims denied or payments delayed, update your billing forms and systems now to reflect the new codes. And if you haven't already incorporated the ICD-9-CM code changes that went into effect in October, now's the perfect time to take care of both in one fell swoop.(See, "ICD-9-CM codes: The latest changes," Sept.7, 2007).
There are 242 new CPT codes and 54 deleted codes. But what's noteworthy for the coming year is that there are 305 revised codes—about four times as many as in 2007. Many of the revisions stem from changes in the list of codes that are exempt from modifier –51, which indicates that you did more than one non-E&M procedure during a single session. It's attached to the secondary, or lesser valued procedure, for which insurers typically reduce the fee.
Three new telephone codes (99441-99443) are for physicians to use to report E&M services provided by phone at the request of established patients. But they can't be used if the doctor sees the patient within 24 hours or the call refers to an E&M visit within the previous seven days. The new online E&M code (99444) is intended to report a physician's Internet response to an established patient's online inquiry. These services should be documented in the medical record.
Category II codes—the supplemental tracking codes for performance measures— are used in CMS' Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). It's the fastest-growing section of the CPT book, with 102 new codes, three revised codes, and a new exclusion modifier.
Category III—temporary codes for emerging technology, services, and procedures—has 13 new codes; in addition, 11 codes have been revised, and several categories deleted.
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