Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

In other news ...

• You may have gotten used to treating H1N1 cases at your office , but one habit you should drop is appending the "CR" modifier to your H1N1 claims.

In 2005, CMS created the "DR"condition code (Disaster related) and "CR" modifier (Catastrophe/disaster related) to facilitate the processing of claims affected by Hurricane Katrina, CMS said in a Jan. 29 news release.

Medicare contractors later allowed use of these codes for subsequent emergencies or disasters. However, on July 31, 2009, CMS eliminated the discretionary use of the DR and CR codes and announced that change in MLN Matters article MM6451.

Therefore, only providers and suppliers who have a formal waiver can use the DR condition code and CR modifier for their H1N1 claims. Practices who are appending one or both of these codes to all of their H1N1 claims and do not have a formal waiver allowing them to do so will face delayed claims, CMS says.

For more information on the CR and DR codes, visit www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/MM6451.pdf.