Thursday, January 27, 2022
- COVID-19: Tools to Determine if Vaccine Requirements Apply
- COVID-19 Vaccine Codes: Pfizer Pre-Diluted Vaccine for Patients Ages 12+ & Third Dose for Immunocompromised Patients Ages 5–11
- COVID-19: Vaccine Access in Long-term Care Settings
- Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program: New for Calendar Year 2022
- April 2022 Update to the Medicare Severity - Diagnosis Related Group (MS-DRG) Grouper and Medicare Code Editor (MCE) Version 39.1 for the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) Diagnosis Codes for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccination Status and ICD-10 Procedure Coding System (PCS) Codes for Introduction or Infusion of Therapeutics and Vaccines for COVID-19 Treatment
- Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule – Medicare Travel Allowance Fees for Collection of Specimens
- CY2022 Telehealth Update Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
- Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) Codes Subject to and Excluded from Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) Edits
- Internet-Only Manual Updates (IOM) for Critical Care, Split/Shared Evaluation and Management Services, Teaching Physicians, & Physician Assistants
- New Waived Tests
News
COVID-19: Tools to Determine if Vaccine Requirements Apply
In light of the recent Supreme Court ruling on January 13, 2022, employee vaccination requirements from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) now apply to certain Medicare or Medicaid providers and suppliers. Please see below for new and updated tools and resources developed by CMS to help you navigate and determine if these vaccine requirements apply to you. These materials are all available from the CMS Current Emergencies page:
- Guidance memo (cms.gov) – This memo provides guidance for assessing and maintaining compliance with this new regulatory requirement for certain Medicare and Medicaid providers and suppliers.
- CMS Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination Requirements FAQ (PDF cms.gov) (PDF) – These FAQs have been updated to explain the recent ruling and how it impacts employee vaccination requirements.
- IFC-6 Vaccination Requirements Infographic (cms.gov) (PDF) – This infographic visually shows the types of providers and suppliers the vaccine requirement applies to, how the requirement can be met, and associated requirement enforcement actions.
- Vaccine Requirement Implementation Timeline (cms.gov) (PDF) – This infographic illustrates the phases of the vaccination rule implementation, state-by-state, and their associated deadlines. Note that the phased deadlines vary by state.
- Vaccine Requirement Decision Tree (cms.gov) (PDF) – This handy decision tree visually explains the steps in determining to which providers and suppliers the vaccine requirement applies.
COVID-19 Vaccine Codes: Pfizer Pre-Diluted Vaccine for Patients Ages 12+ & Third Dose for Immunocompromised Patients Ages 5–11
On January 3, the FDA:
- Authorized an additional pre-diluted formulation (gray cap) for patients 12 years and older
- Amended the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (PDF) emergency use authorization to allow for third pediatric doses (orange cap) for 5–11-year-old solid organ transplant patients or patients with a similar level of immunocompromise
Get the most current list of billing codes, payment allowances, and effective dates.
More Information:
COVID-19: Vaccine Access in Long-term Care Settings
The federal government is committed to ensuring that residents and staff in long-term care settings, like nursing homes, assisted living, residential care communities, group homes, and senior housing, have access to COVID-19 vaccines to get primary series and booster shots.
We encourage long-term care providers to consider the option that works best for their residents and staff when coordinating access to COVID-19 vaccines, either in the local community or on-site. The CDC has additional details on these options.
As a reminder, through enforcement discretion, CMS will allow Medicare-enrolled immunizers, including but not limited to pharmacies working with the U.S., to bill directly and get direct reimbursement from the Medicare program for vaccinating Medicare skilled nursing facility residents. Find Medicare billing and payment information.
Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program: New for Calendar Year 2022
The calendar year (CY) 2022 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) final rule and correction notice include information on the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP) expanded model. The MDPP changes that went into effect January 1 include:
- Shortening the MDPP services period to 1 year for patients who enrolled on or after January 1; the first core session date is the enrollment date
- Redistributing all ongoing maintenance session payments to the first year with a focus on increasing attendance-based performance payments
- Removing the ongoing maintenance session payments for patients whose first core session occurs on or after January 1
- Maintaining the 2021 payment amounts for ongoing maintenance sessions for patients who started MDPP in 2021 or earlier and maintain 5% weight loss and attendance requirements; the first core session date is the enrollment date
- Waiving the MDPP supplier enrollment fee
More Information:
- See the official instruction to your Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) (PDF)
- Find your MAC’s website
- Final Policies for the MDPP Expanded Model for CY 2022 Medicare PFS fact sheet
- MDPP webpage
- Information for your patients
Claims, Pricers, & Codes
Acute Hospital Care at Home: New Occurrence Span Code and Revenue Code
To track inpatient claims submitted for the Acute Hospital Care at Home program, the National Uniform Billing Committee approved the following codes for claims received on or after July 1, 2022:
- Revenue Code 0161: Hospital at Home, R&B/Hospital at Home
- Occurrence Span Code 82: Hospital at Home Care Dates
For more information, see the official instruction to your Medicare Administrative Contractor (PDF).
MLN Matters® Articles
April 2022 Update to the Medicare Severity - Diagnosis Related Group (MS-DRG) Grouper and Medicare Code Editor (MCE) Version 39.1 for the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) Diagnosis Codes for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccination Status and ICD-10 Procedure Coding System (PCS) Codes for Introduction or Infusion of Therapeutics and Vaccines for COVID-19 Treatment
Learn about new ICD-10 codes for COVID-19 (PDF):
- Diagnosis codes for reporting vaccination status
- Procedure codes for introducing or infusing therapeutics, including COVID-19 vaccines
- MCE edit for unspecified ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes
Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule – Medicare Travel Allowance Fees for Collection of Specimens
Learn about calendar year 2022 travel allowances (PDF):
- Per mile
- Flat rate
CY2022 Telehealth Update Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
Learn about telehealth billing changes, including (PDF):
- 2 new modifiers
- Telehealth services list update
Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) Codes Subject to and Excluded from Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) Edits
Internet-Only Manual Updates (IOM) for Critical Care, Split/Shared Evaluation and Management Services, Teaching Physicians, & Physician Assistants
CMS revised Medicare manuals (PDF) for:
- Critical care services
- Split (or shared) evaluation and management visits
- Teaching physician services
- Physician assistant billing and payment
New Waived Tests
Publications
Home Infusion Therapy Services Monitoring Report
Read the January 2022 Home Infusion Therapy (HIT) Monitoring Report (PDF) about HIT benefit use from January 1, 2019–March 31, 2021, including:
- Visits
- Patients
- Supplier organizations
More Information:
- Home Infusion Therapy Services webpage
- Email questions to HomeInfusionPolicy@cms.hhs.gov
- Information for your patients
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