Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Bonus: CMS increases pay for office visit codes. Get ready for another year of nail-biting to find out if Medicare payments will be cut. "The update to the physician fee schedule conversion factor is -21.2 percent for CY 2010," notes the 2010 Medicare Physician fee schedule Final Rule, printed in the Federal Register that will be published on Nov. 25. Traditionally, Congress has stepped in to reverse such dramatic cuts before they take place, but unless that happens this year, you'll face a conversion factor of $28.4061 effective Jan. 1, according to calculations in the Federal Register. Gastroenterologists do dodge one bullet: Although cuts to certain CPT codes will have a drastic impact on certain specialties in 2010, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) estimates that gastroenterology practices will see reimbursement drop by only 1 percent next year. In contrast, nuclear medicine specialists will see their reimbursement [...]