The Medicare Monthly Review, MMR-2011-01, January 2011 - CGS

News Flash - Each Office Visit is an Opportunity. Medicare patients give many reasons for not gettingtheir annual flu vaccination, but the fact is that there are 36,000 flu-related deaths in the United Stateseach year, on average. More than 90 percent of these deaths occur in people 65 years of age and older.Please talk with your Medicare patients about the importance of getting their annual flu vaccination. ThisMedicare-covered preventive service will protect them for the entire flu season. And remember,vaccination is important for health care workers too, who may spread the flu to high risk patients. Don’tforget to immunize yourself and your staff. Protect your patients. Protect your family. Protect yourself.Get Your Flu Vaccine - Not the Flu.Remember – Influenza vaccine plus its administration are covered Part B benefits. Note that influenzavaccine is not a Part D covered drug. For information about Medicare’s coverage of the influenza vaccineand its administration, as well as related educational resources for health care professionals and theirstaff, please visit http://www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/Downloads/Flu_Products.pdf andhttp://www.cms.gov/AdultImmunizations on the CMS Web site.DisclaimerThis article was prepared as a service to the public and is not intended to grant rights or impose obligations. This article may contain references or links tostatutes, regulations, or other policy materials. The information provided is only intended to be a general summary. It is not intended to take the place of eitherthe written law or regulations. We encourage readers to review the specific statutes, regulations and other interpretive materials for a full and accurate statementof their contents. CPT only copyright 2009 American Medical Association.New Physician Specialty Codes for Cardiac Electrophysiology andSports MedicineMLN Matters® Number: MM7209Related Change Request (CR) #: 7209Related CR Release Date: November 19, 2010Effective Date: April 1, 2011Related CR Transmittal #: R2098Implementation Date: April 4, 2011Provider Types AffectedThis article is for physicians and non-physician practitioners who bill Medicare carriers and Medicareadministrative contractors (A/B MAC) for providing cardiac electrophysiology and sports medicineservices to Medicare beneficiaries.What You Need to KnowMedicare physician and nonphysician practitioner specialty codes describe the specific/unique types ofmedicine that physicians and nonphysician practitioners (and certain other suppliers) practice. Specialtycodes are used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for programmatic and claimsprocessing purposes, each code becoming associated with the claims that a physician or nonphysicianpractitioner submits.Note: Physicians, who enroll in Medicare, self-designate their Medicare physician specialty on theMedicare enrollment application (CMS-855I) or Internet-based Provider Enrollment, Chain andOwnership System; however, nonphysician practitioners are assigned a Medicare specialty code whenthey enroll.Change Request (CR) 7209, from which this article is taken, announces that (effective April 1, 2011) CMSwill establish new physician specialty codes for Cardiac Electrophysiology and Sports Medicine. Thesecodes are:CPT codes and descriptors are only copyright 2010 American Medical Association (or such other date publication of CPT)The Medicare Monthly Review 87 MMR 2011-01, January 2011