CMS added seven new PLA codes to the HCPCS files, effective July 1, 2021, which will be contractor-priced based on local rates until they undergo the CLFS annual payment determination process for … [Read more...]
Billing & Coding
OIG Sounds the Alarm on Improper Billing of Lipid Panels & Direct HDL Tests
May 24, 2021
Medicare could and should have saved over $20 million in payments for medically unnecessary LDL cholesterol blood tests if CMS hadn’t been asleep at the wheel for the past five years. That’s the gist … [Read more...]
Billing & Coding
AMA Creates New CPT Code 87426 for COVID-19 Antigen Testing
June 30, 2020
On June 24, the American Medical Association Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) approved new CPT code 87426 to report COVID-19 antigen tests, which use immunofluorescent or immunochromatographic … [Read more...]
Billing & Coding
CMS Issues Reminders for Billing COVID-19 Specimen Collection & Symptom/Exposure Assessment
June 29, 2020
On June 18, CMS offered up some guidance on billing Medicare for COVID-19 symptom and exposure assessment and specimen collection performed on and after March 1, 2020: Use CPT code 99211 to bill … [Read more...]
Medicare Reimbursement
CMS Waivers Expand COVID-19 Testing Coverage Rules
June 1, 2020
On May 1, CMS issued regulatory waivers temporarily expanding coverage and clarifying billing of COVID-19 testing for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries during the public health emergency (PHE). Here … [Read more...]
Coronavirus
CMS Develops Additional Code for Coronavirus Lab Tests
March 8, 2020
On March 6, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a second Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code that can be used by laboratories to bill for certain … [Read more...]
CO-ORDINATING DATA
Laboratory Information Systems (LIS): What You Need To Know To Get Paid
September 30, 2019
By Sean McSweeney bio Today, laboratory billing claims require more and more data to successfully get paid. One of the biggest reasons your claims may be getting denied is because you're not … [Read more...]
WHISTLEBLOWERS
Billing & Coding: Myriad Genetics Pays $9.1 Million to Settle Claims of Falsely Billing Medicare for Hereditary Cancer Tests
July 30, 2019
In March 2018, Myriad Genetics got a piece of mail no lab provider ever wants to see in its inbox: an OIG subpoena asking for billing records in connection with "an investigation into possible false … [Read more...]
WORKING WITH PAYERS
Billing & Coding: Pathology Group Asks CMS to Raise Medicare Prices for BRCA1/2 Sequencing Tests
January 23, 2019
The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) thinks the final 2019 Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule payment amounts shortchanges labs that provide BRCA genetic testing and is calling on CMS to … [Read more...]
FEE SCHEDULES
How PAMA’s Effect in 2018 Molecular Diagnostic Reimbursement Will Make Labs More Money
June 25, 2018
By Sean McSweeney bio The year 2018 is slated to be much brighter for molecular diagnostic labs as PAMA fee schedules show a higher payment rate and amount for many cancer genomics and … [Read more...]
