Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Medicare again making certain services more valuable ... provided you code properly. If your gastroenterology practice is looking to make a few extra bucks for the same services in 2010, Medicare is obliging you yet again. Back for 2010 is Medicare's incentive-driven physician quality reporting initiative (PQRI), which tracks patient care via E/M services that your gastroenterologists provide. When a physician in your practice treats a Medicare patient, some PQRI dollars might be only a few codes away. Good news: Coders who have participated in past PQRIs won't have to learn new codes and measures in 2010, reports Michael Weinstein, MD, a gastroenterologist in Washington, D.C., and former member of the AMA's CPT Advisory Panel. The GI-relevant PQRI codes and measures are largely unchanged, he says. Here's a lowdown on the "Whats" of PQRI to ring in the New Year -- use it as a refresher (or primer) on the basics [...]