CMS released a new interim final rule with comment period that grants organizations another round of flexibilities to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 public health emergency, including permitting hospitals to bill for telehealth services and loosening restrictions on COVID-19 testing.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will reimburse hospitals at Medicare rates for treating uninsured novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients.
Providers and payers now have revised tabular and index information for new ICD-10-CM code U07.1 (COVID-19) issued today by the panel that maintains the diagnosis code set in the U.S.
Providers will find immediate opportunity to provide virtual visits to patients enrolled in Medicare plans as CMS seeks to facilitate screening and treatment of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases through telehealth services and implement billing guidance for these visits.
Providers in the U.S. will soon have a specific ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for the COVID-19 virus. During a March 18 meeting, The ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee announced that it would adopt the World Health Organization (WHO) code, U07.1 (COVID-19), effective April 1.
Previously, the panel had planned to implement the code beginning October 1 in the U.S. But the committee moved up the adoption date after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic and President Trump declared the spread of the virus a national emergency, explained Donna Pickett, head of the diagnosis coding side of the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee. She announced the April 1 implementation date during the March 18 committee meeting.
Prior to April 1, providers can continue to report based on previously published interim guidelines, which outline, among other things, how to report illnesses caused by COVID-19.
Note that code U07.1 should be reported only for confirmed cases. Providers should continue to follow the interim guidelines for unconfirmed cases of suspected exposure or symptoms.
Code U07.1 is designed to be a primary code—coders are advised to code also pneumonia and all other manifestations.
Q: We are seeing an influx of possible novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients at our facility. How can we prepare to query for COVID-19-related documentation and coding issues that are bound to come our way due to the newness of the diagnosis?
CMS announced blanket waivers of certain Medicare requirements to prevent gaps in care for beneficiaries affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency. The agency released billing instructions and a set of Q&As.
As the coronavirus sweeps the world, organizational leaders find themselves with a certain level of responsibility to keep their workforce safe and effective. Much of how they meet that responsibility involves how they decide to communicate everything from emergency policies to information that can help make employees feel safe.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is taking a massive toll, impacting not only individuals and families as well as employers as they struggle with balancing the need for keeping their employees healthy while running their businesses. I have been writing about the advantages and challenges of teleworking in this column for 15 years. If those articles didn’t inspire you to explore having employees work remotely, maybe this crisis has compelled you to create a plan (or at least contingencies) that may result in a large portion of you workforce attempting to be productive while staying home.
