Orthopedic Coding Alert

Tired of shelling out hundreds of dollars a year to stay current on changes to the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) that might affect your orthopedic practice? If so, now you can access quarterly NCCI edit updates free on the Internet.
 
In the past, CMS has made the NCCI edits available as a paid subscription only (by way of the National Technical Information Service). "But now," a CMS press release states, the edits "are available to anyone with a personal computer."
 
CMS lists the edits in a spreadsheet format. You can sort edits by code number (for instance, click only on the musculoskeletal series), or by effective date. The Web page also includes a "find" feature to make it easy to locate a specific codes. The on-line database provides instant access to both the "comprehensive/component" and "mutually exclusive" code pair edits, thereby making it easy for orthopedists and their coders to identify incorrect coding combinations.
 
To view the online NCCI edits, go online to http://cms.hhs.gov/physicians/cciedits/default.asp. The same Web page also includes links to documents that explain the edits, including the NCCI Policy Manual for Part B Medicare Carriers, the Medicare Carriers Manual, and an NCCI Question and Answer page.