You can expect an easier time getting paid for chronic care management (CCM) services in 2017, as CMS plans to clear reporting hurdles for what it calls an "underutilized" service, according to the 2017 Medicare proposed fee schedule.
Yet the proposed rule shows that no small number of Medicare beneficiaries received CCM services in 2015 -- specifically, 275,000 beneficiaries.
That equates to $37 million in allowed charges, according to CMS.
And the claims data show that patients often received the service on an ongoing basis. Individual patients averaged three months of CCM services in 2015, which is the year Medicare began paying for it.
CMS has proposed to do away with some of the administrative hurdles that appears to have suppressed those numbers. "Many practitioners have stated that the service elements and billing requirements are burdensome," states the proposed rule.
To alleviate that stress, the agency proposes to no longer require an initiating visit for patients seen within the past calendar year and it plans to ease the requirements tied to a provider's use of certified electronic health records (EHRs), among other revisions.
Stay tuned to Part B News for more updates on CCM and other fee-schedule proposals.