Alert - CMS 2010 proposal!!

CMS is also proposing to stop making payment for consultation codes, which are typically billed by specialists and are paid at a higher rate than equivalent evaluation and management (E/M) services. Practitioners will use existing E/M service codes when providing these services instead. Resulting savings would be redistributed to increase payments for the existing E/M services.

Sounds ok to me!

As a primary care, I'll take the added E&M payment.

No more consults?

I'm with you. Just get rid of the consult codes and lose the confusion and the compli nce
worry!

consults

It would be nice if they kept it for pre-op clearance. That is more cut and dried.

pre op

They will do away with the consultation codes, no distinction as far as I read

2010 proposal

Hello, would you be able to send me a link to that information about the 2010 proposal to do away with the consultation codes?

2010 proposal

They move these things around, and the original link from their press announcement doesn't work anymore.

I found it here:

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PhysicianFeeSched/PFSFRN/list.asp#TopOfPage

and the proposed rule had a display date of July 1 and a published date of July 13. It's a 1400 page document, and the part on consults is from pages 159--177.