CMS also suspended Medicare’s FFS claims payment adjustment through December.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the suspended sequestration payment adjustment of 2 percent – which applied to all Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) claims from May 1 through Dec. 31, 2020, later extended through March 21, 2021 by the Consolidated Appropriations Act – has been again extended through the end of 2021. The announcement was made April 16.
An Act to Prevent Across-the-Board Direct Spending Cuts, and for Other Purposes, signed into law on April 14, extends the suspension period to Dec. 31, 2021.
Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) will now:
Practices are told that they do not need to take any action.
Another regulation to keep an eye on is the formal extension of the federal public health emergency (PHE). The current PHE declaration was extended on April 15, and will now be set to expire on July 20. The Biden Administration has indicated that the PHE will likely remain in place throughout 2021, and that states will receive 60 days’ notice before the end of the PHE to prepare for the end of emergency authorities and the resumption of pre-PHE rules.
To continue to monitor the PHE status you go online to this link and review the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) current policy: https://www.phe.gov/emergency/news/healthactions/phe/Pages/COVID-15April2021.aspx
Today, I want to shine a light on something that is often overlooked but is absolutely critical to the financial health of our healthcare system:
Continuing with our look at areas of coding confusion, let’s today examine pain. According to Medline Plus Magazine from the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
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