Chiropractic Coding & Compliance Alert

Reader Question:

Make the Most of the New ICD-10 LCDs

Question: How can we access updates to ICD-10 Local Coverage Determinations in the CMS Medicare coverage database?

Iowa Subscriber

Answer: An LCD is a valuable administrative and educational tool that can assist you in submitting correct claims. It tells you about the coverage criteria, defines medical necessity, covered services, primary and secondary ICD codes for the expected diagnosis. These codes describe covered and/or noncovered services when the codes are integral to the discussion of medical necessity.

At the time of this writing, the ICD-10 based LCDs are available as “Future” LCDs, and available under the Medicare coverage database-> Index section on the CMS website. You should go to these to discover a wealth of information the ICD-10 codes you are required to use as primary codes( M99.01 to M99.05) to demonstrate spinal subluxation, and a plethora of ICD-10 codes for the secondary under lying diagnosis that you may want to report as well.