Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: Medicare has a new physician specialty code for a hospitalist. How do I know which physician specialty code to report?

Codify Subscriber

Answer: Physicians self-designate their Medicare physician specialty during enrollment. You should use the specialty code that matches the physician's self-designation.

The new specialty code you refer to is C6 for Hospitalist. For a cardiologist, you're likely to choose from 06 for Cardiology, 21 for Cardiac Electrophysiology, or C3 for Interventional Cardiology.

There's an MLN Matters article about the addition of C6 available here: www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNMattersArticles/Downloads/MM9716.pdf.