More than 350 coding changes announced for 2010

3 December 2009

2010 is right around the corner and changes to CPT and ICD-9 coding will take effect on Jan. 1. One of the positive changes this year is the re-sequencing initiative which was instituted in response to the increasing need for new concepts without deletion of current concepts.

Re-sequenced codes are those that are not in numeric sequence and are identified by the “#” symbol as a navigational alert to direct the user to the location of the out-of-sequence code. The new 2010 CPT book addresses these codes in Appendix N. There are 27 re-sequenced codes in 2010. (The 2010 Coding Books are now available at members at a discounted rate.  Click here for more information.)

Another big change in 2010 is the refinement of consultation guidelines. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has included in its final rule that Medicare will not cover consultation codes (in-patient and office/outpatient codes for various places of service except for tele-health consultation G-codes). CMS states that it will create a modifier to identify the admitting physician of record who oversees the patient’s care from other physicians who may be furnishing specialty care. The admitting physician of record will be required to append the specific modifier to the initial hospital care or initial nursing facility care code which will identify him or her as the admitting physician.

There are additional changes in the areas of urology, cardiology, non-physician services, pulmonary medicine, pain medicine, excision of soft tumors and bone tumors, radiology, and general surgery.

The Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) is hosting two live webinars for your practice’s convenience in preparation for the upcoming changes. With over 350 changes going into effect, MSV’s webinar will help you understand which ones will affect your practice’s’ bottom line. Time will be provided at the end of each webinar our coding experts to answer participants’ questions. The times of the webinars are as follows.

2010 Coding Updates Webinar (CPT)
12 January 2010
12:00 pm- 1:30 pm

2010 Coding Updates Webinar (CPT)
14 January 2010
12:00 pm- 1:30 pm