Like other services covered by Medicare, observation must be reasonable and necessary or, in other words, medically necessary. The physician must document that they assessed patient risk to determine that the patient would benefit from observation services.
The Medicine section of the CPT Manual includes codes for a variety of services including acupuncture, vaccinations, and behavioral health assessments and is divided into 33 subsections that can make it challenging to navigate.
If you aren’t yet confused by the site-neutral payment policy changes prompted by CMS apparently ignoring both Congressional intent and the American Hospital Association (AHA) and other impacted hospitals filing suit, you are likely to become so now.
The 2020 update to the CPT Manual includes extensive updates to cardiovascular codes, including new codes for pericardiocentesis and pericardial drainage, aortic grafting, and endovascular repair procedures.
As of October 1, approximately 1,080 cases of respiratory illnesses and 18 deaths brought on by vaping have been reported in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Despite continued research into these cases by the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the specific cause of these illnesses remains unknown.
CMS is moving forward with multiple policies—effectively based on reducing reimbursement to hospitals—that have been deemed unlawful in court, according to the 2020 OPPS final rule, released Friday, November 1. However, the agency pushed its controversial price transparency proposals to a separate, yet-to-be released final rule.
