Medicare News In Brief
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Remote monitoring codes: CMS released new cardiac remote monitoring-specific codes and payment rates in the 2009 1physician fee schedule issued Oct. 30. The current procedural technology codes, recently created by the American Medical Association, will contribute to a more "stable payment environment" for remote monitoring, says David Blaszczak, an analyst with the Stanford Group. Physicians have faced challenges in getting reimbursed for time spent reviewing information collected via remote devices such as cardiac monitors in part due to the absence of specific codes. Among the new codes are two for "mobile cardiovascular telemetry" that directly impact monitoring products made by CardioNet. Medicare has previously established specific CPT codes for remote analysis of pacemaker and implantable defibrillator data (2"The Gray Sheet" June 19, 2006, In Brief)
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