Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

New coverage announcement is triumph for physicians who haven't collected in the past. If you've been writing off tobacco cessation counseling as nonpayable, it's time to change your tune. In the past, you could collect for codes 99406"99407 (Smoking and tobacco use cessation counseling visit...) if you performed tobacco cessation counseling for a patient with a tobaccorelated disease or with signs or symptoms of one. But on Aug. 25, CMS announced that "under new coverage, any smoker covered by Medicare will be able to receive tobacco cessation counseling from a qualified physician or other Medicarerecognized practitioner who can work with them to help them stop using tobacco." "For too long, many tobacco users with Medicare coverage were denied access to evidence-based tobacco cessation counseling," said Kathleen Sebelius, HHS secretary, in an Aug. 25 statement. "Most Medicare beneficiaries want to quit their tobacco use. Now, older adults and other Medicare beneficiaries [...]