July 2018 Client Newsletter
New Medicare ID Numbers
Just FYI, Medicare updated their new Medicare cards release dates:
- Newly enrolled, mailed as enrolled.
- New Jersey & New York – “After June 2018”
- Massachusetts – “After June 2018”
- New Mexico – “After June 2018”
If you want to review the full list:
https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/New-Medicare-Card/NMC-Mailing-Strategy.pdf
As we have written many times, the CURRENT STANDARD is to verify insurance every time a patient makes an appointment and every time they arrive for an appointment. For those with electronic verification in your EHR, be sure to use it. For those using the Healthpac Scheduler, be sure to use when making the appointment and when the patient arrives (in case the insurance changed after the appointment was made).
United Healthcare
Effective August 18th dates of service, UHC for Commercial plans is going to pay 99051 as an “Add-on” fee when a patient is seen during “scheduled evening, weekend or holiday office hours.” The 99051 would be billed in addition to the usual visit codes. So if you normally would bill 99213 for a visit, you would bill 99213 & 99051.
Effective July 1st, UHC will reimburse 99173, 99174 & 99177
Billing 99211 With Only An Injection
If a patient is only seen to give an injection, for instance B12, Flu or pneumonia vaccine, or allergy shot, then only those services can be billed. The 99211 is considered a component of the injection codes.
NEW Medicare CARDS
Just a reminder, the new Medicare Cards will start to be sent out After April 1, 2018. This is no different than any other insurance card changing – OTHER THAN the fact that it will happen for ALL Medicare patients. So just continue to ask all patients if their insurance has changed, and when it has, obtain a copy of the insurance cards and forward to CPB.
Medicare will not be updating all at the same time – the new cards will be spread out over time so a Medicare recipient may not have their new card yet. Remember also that the new cards will not have Social Security Numbers on them.
PLEASE NOTE: the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) Lookup Tool that Novitas offers will allow providers to obtain their patient’s MBI number BUT requires the patient’s Social Security Number in order to do that lookup. The MBI Lookup will require users to enter the patient’s First and Last Name, Date of Birth, and Social Security Number (SSN) to search. So, please continue to request Social Security Numbers from all patients (which are also useful to the collection agency).
One point regarding Railroad Medicare (RRMC); in the past, their policy number were somewhat unique such that it was obvious it was RRMC. With the new cards, that will no longer be the case since they are using the same policy format as traditional Medicare. The only difference is “Railroad Retirement Board” is specifically written at the bottom of the new cards. Other than that, the cards are identical.