Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Despite loss of grace period, AMA won't release codes any sooner Gastroenterology coders might want to think about setting aside some time this fall to learn new CPT codes, because the American Medical Association (AMA) isn't giving you much time to learn them.
 
The AMA has no plans to speed up the release of the 2005 CPT Codes to compensate for providers losing the customary 90-day grace period. Therefore, many coders will receive the new 2005 CPT codes in October and have to learn them and implement them before Jan. 1, when the 2004 codes become invalid. AMA: Feds Made Us Scrap Grace Period The AMA stresses that it was the government's decision to eliminate the 90-day grace period, not the AMA's. As usual, the AMA will release the CPT code data files by early September, and the books will be out by early October.
 
The new codes aren't known yet, but the AMA has released its tentative agenda for November's CPT/
RBRVUS 2005 Joint Symposia, which will discuss them in detail.
 
Sources familiar with the process say specialty societies are still reluctant to push for many new codes because for each new code added, existing codes must lose RVUs to maintain budget neutrality. There's a mentality of "We can live without that code because we don't want to lose our RVUs for these other codes," one source says.
 
But a shake-up is coming, experts say. The specialty societies are preparing for the five-year review of codes by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the RVS Update Committee, which begins in November 2004 and ends in January 2007. Each society will look at undervalued services in the fee schedule and look for services they may target as overvalued.
 
Because many procedures now take less time than they used to due to improved techniques, a number of codes may see lower RVUs in 2007, freeing up space for new codes.