- 2025 code changes: What doctors of optometry need to know
- Introducing the new CMS G2211 code
- Coordination of benefits 3 takeaways for optometric billing practices
- Clearing up modifier confusion
- Payor Downcoding: What Is It and What Should You Do About It
- New noteworthy optometry codes
- Modifier -25: How to use it appropriately and avoid costly penalties
- 3 coding questions cracked
- CPT codes deleted in 2023—do you know what codes may be billed to replace them?
- Why Proper Documentation Is Vital
- Common coding questions answered
- How and when to code for social determinants of health
- Most asked coding questions: dilation
- What does COVID-19 PHE ending mean for telemedicine
- 2 points to keep in mind when patients decline dilation
- social determinants of health
- Can a doctor of optometry bill Medicare for a comprehensive eye exam and a procedure on the same day
- The future of audio-only reimbursement
- Coding conundrums solved
- 7 takeaways from the 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule
- Virtual check-in codes
- What your colleagues are asking about coding
- CMS releases 2023 Medicare PFS proposed rule
- Merit-based Incentive Payment System: What doctors should know
- Ask the coding experts
- Merit-based Incentive Payment System quality measures
- Coding for presbyopia eye drops
- Coding and contact lens safety
- CMS 2022 Medicare PFS decreases conversion factor sets new policy goals
- CMS releases information on Part B claims-based quality measure scoring for 2021
- Updated ICD-10 codes take effect October 1
- If it sounds too good to be true
- New EM codes
- What to do when a coding decision is made incorrectly
- 4 coding changes now in effect
- changes in 2021 to coding and documentation for evaluation and management services.
- AOA HPI provides coding benchmark data
- Appropriate use of modifier 25
- Changes on the horizon for evaluation and management services
- AOA Coding Experts gain AMA CPT appointments
- 2020 PFS changes for optometry
- 2020 updates to the ICD-10 code set
- Medicares virtual check-in codes
- The importance of accurate coding and contact lens safety
- coding for cognitive development test
- Medicare evaluation and management documentation and billing
- Coding and audits
- 5 coding queries cracked
- appropriate diagnosis code reporting
- Diagnostic code changes
- 4 coding conundrums clarified
- Where coding and coverage intersect
- Changes on the horizon for evaluation and management documentation and reimbursement
- Global period data collection and possible future changes
- New ICD-10 codes effective
- July-Aug17_Coding Q&As
- The ICD 10 code development process
- coding experts-billing for post-cataract glasses
- accurate coding for public health
- July Aug 2017 Coding Experts
- September Coding Experts
- CMS data collection on postoperative visits
- 3 solutions to common coding problems
- 3 coding changes doctors need to know
- Coding cases cracked
- New diabetes related diagnosis codes
- Get answers to your coding questions
- New ICD10 codes doctors need to know
- Common coding Qs answered
- Coverage indications limitations and medical necessity
- 4 tips for competing with online retailers
- Coding questions cracked
- Access online coding resource for AOA members
- What is the future of CPT coding
- CMS makes changes in how doctors revalidate Medicare enrollment information
- 5 coding changes and clarifications doctors need to know
- More ICD 10 coding Q&As
- Doctors of optometry could see a rise in labor costs under new federal overtime rule
- 4 tips for growing your practice
- HHS unveils proposed rule for new Quality Payment Program
- Ask the Coding Experts Comparative billing reports raise questions on glaucoma patient treatment and coding
- Ask the Coding Experts Modifier 24 and 25 usage
- ICD-10 coding QandAs October
- Ask the Coding Experts Chronic care management services
- ICD 10 transition So far so good
- CMS comparative billing reports What you need to know
- Ready resources for the ICD 10 rollout
- Coding Q&As
- Online payment option makes cents
- Modifiers for distinct procedural services
- Get a refresher on your public Open Payments data
- Final countdown Get answers to your ICD-10 coding questions
- AOA clarifies meaningful use rule on electronic order entry
- More ICD 10 coding QandAs
- Vision therapy coding
- Medicare claims and requests for additional documentation
- Coding QnAs May
- Referring ordering and form 8550
- Reporting code 92250
- One-year Medicare payment fix extends ICD-10 deadline
Be aware of changes for 2017 and beyond
September 27, 2016
Some of the most significant code changes are related to changes in ICD-10 codes.
Ask the Coding Experts, by Doug Morrow, O.D., Harvey Richman, O.D., Rebecca Wartman, O.D. From the September 2016 edition of AOA Focus, page 50-51.
With the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) scheduled to begin in 2017, there are many changes coming down the pike that will impact doctors of optometry.
In addition to this significant shift in Medicare payment structure, there are many coding-related changes that doctors will need to be aware of in 2017 and beyond.
Some of the most significant code changes are related to 2017 changes in ICD-10 codes. Leading up to the implementation of ICD-10, there was a partial code freeze in place. That code freeze has now been lifted, and hundreds of new ICD-10 code additions, changes and deletions will take place on Oct. 1, 2016.
All of these changes are included in the Codes for Optometry manual, which can be purchased at AOA Marketplace.
Developing values for CPT codes: Your feedback is critical
Over the past several years, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has grappled with how to appropriately value codes with global periods. CMS is concerned that post-surgical visits are valued higher than visits that were furnished and billed separately. In 2014, CMS attempted to do away with global periods entirely, but Congress intervened, which disallowed CMS to move forward with this elimination.
Instead, Congress required CMS to develop a process to gather information needed to value surgical services from a representative sample of physicians. Statute requires that the collected information include the number and level of medical visits furnished and other items and services related to the surgery and furnished during the global period. During the summer of 2016, CMS released its initial proposal for gathering this information.
This may require doctors to add an additional G code on claims when services are provided as part of a global services package. This could be a significant burden on doctors, and AOA will be providing additional direction and guidance if CMS moves forward with this process for obtaining this data.
AOA remains fully engaged in the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code development and refinement process and the Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) process, which is used to develop values for CPT codes. In order to develop values for CPT codes, surveys are used to gather data. Physicians who perform a particular service are surveyed to obtain information on the work involved in the new or revised code. When codes that doctors of optometry report are under review, the AOA conducts the survey, reviews the results and prepares recommendations to the RUC.
In 2016, AOA has surveyed for three CPT codes: 95930 (visual evoked potential testing central nervous system except glaucoma, checkerboard or flash, with interpretation and report), 76512 (ophthalmic ultrasound, diagnostic; B-scan (with or without superimposed non-quantitative A-scan), and 67820 (correction of trichiasis; epilation, by forceps only). New values for these services will go into effect in the coming years. These surveys were sent to a total of 2,250 doctors of optometry. In total, AOA received feedback from only 22 doctors.
If you receive a survey related to valuing a CPT code, please participate. Your feedback is critical for developing appropriate values for the services that doctors of optometry provide.