tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2006 Issue 2

CS: Don't Expect Medicare to Change Its Ways

In years past, Medicare considered conscious sedation procedures 99141-99142 bundled services in all cases, and therefore would not pay separately for them. Although 99143-99150 are much more precise than 99141-99142, Medicare's recently released 2006 fee schedule assigns zero relative value units to the new codes--and that means Medicare still won't pay. Most experts aren't surprised by Medicare's decision. -I have dealt with Medicare, and they say that uncomfortable procedures that require sedation have CS built into the surgical global fee,- says Scott Groudine, MD, an Albany, N.Y., anesthesiologist. Groudine does see some hope for the future, however:...

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