Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

New CMS directive says claims with E codes as primary diagnoses unprocessable.If you're submitting paper claims to Medicare with E codes in the primary diagnosis slot, don't expect a favorable response from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The agency has released a new directive that tells MACs to return as unprocessable claims submitted on the Form CMS-1500 where an ICD-9-CM 'E' code (external causes of injury and poisoning) is reported as the first/principal diagnosis on the claim. Although this policy was already in place for electronic claims, the new announcement brings the policy for handling CMS-1500 claims into alignment with the policy for handling claims initially submitted in electronic format, according to MLN Matters article MM7700, released on Aug. 8.If you could use a refresher on when E codes are appropriate, read on for some expert tips on how to use these diagnoses.Put E Codes in Their PlaceE [...]