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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

CPT 2011:

CMS Slashes Reimbursement, Requires Clinical Lab Requisition Signatures

Published on Mon Nov 08, 2010

Conversion factor double dips to Jan. 1 low.Medicare's conversion factor (CF), the multiplier that sets physician fees, takes a nosedive Dec. 1 and again Jan. 1 for a reduction of over 30 percent versus the peak rate for 2010 (at press time, Obama had not signed the one-month extension passed by the House and Senate that would delay the Dec. reduction). Coupled with a nearly 2 percent decline in pathology relative value units (RVUs), labs can expect to take a big pay hit next year unless Congress acts to override the change.That's not all: The 2011 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule in the Nov. 29 Federal Register also outlines a new physician signature requirement for clinical lab test requisition forms, and the expiration of the "grandfather exception" for independent lab technical component (TC) billing.To read the 2,023-page Final Rule in the Federal Register, visit www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2010-27969_PI.pdf.Get a Grip on [...]
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