PatG
New
Hello,
Look for advise on meal benefits for Medicare, as what codes should or could be used. TIA.
Look for advise on meal benefits for Medicare, as what codes should or could be used. TIA.
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Wiki Medicare Meal Benefit
- Thread starter PatG
- Start date
SharonCollachi
Guest
Perhaps more details would help.
thomas7331
Guest
Meal benefit? Unless I'm misunderstanding you, that isn't a medical service and would not be a covered benefit, so there's no reason there would be a code for this. I guess you could use A9270 - 'non-covered item or service' - if you had to, but why would this be submitted on a claim to Medicare?
SharonCollachi
Guest
I found that there are some Medicare Advantage plans that offer this, it is an optional benefit. But before I posted the specifics, I wanted to know if that's what they were talking about.
PatG
New
Yes, we will be providing meal benefits when authorized. I did see the IOM for Medicare and it states meals may be offered as a supplemental benefit under certain circumstances. I did find some codes S5170, S9977 and S9996. But we are not sure if those would be appropriate.
thomas7331
Guest
Yes, it's an optional benefit under Medicare Advantage, not part of regular Medicare. You would need to contact the patient's plan to know how the reimbursement arrangement would work. From the way it is worded in the IOM, the MA plan would contract directly with companies to provide this benefit to their patients - it doesn't sound like it's something that medical providers would offer and then bill with CPT codes the way you would medical services on a claim form. However, the plan would be the one to tell you for sure how this should work. This isn't something that coders normally deal with.