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Coders and medical practice staff can get a head start on a series of updated rules for diagnosis coding – the 2021 version of the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines on Coding and Reporting was issued today – weeks ahead of the typical early August release date.
 
 
Coders will have hundreds of new ICD-10-CM codes to report Oct. 1, including codes for sickle cell anemia and osteoporosis. In addition, they’ll find a series of new options for headache codes.
 
 
A phone call with a patient — plus complete documentation — will be all it takes to report 89 services on Medicare's telehealth list. Practices will also be able to receive full reimbursement for 39 new services performed via telehealth, according to the updated telehealth list posted today. The changes are retroactive to March 1.
 
 
A second wave of policy and payment changes that CMS released today is reshaping – yet again – how the medical community can conduct care during the COVID-19 crisis and, critically, how much providers can expect to get paid.
 
In a wide-ranging update to policy guidance that CMS is touting as a “second round of sweeping changes,” the agency seeks to further expand COVID care, ramp up diagnostic testing and again loosen restrictions on which types of providers can deliver vital services like telehealth during this unprecedented emergency.
 
 
You’ll find upheaval, opportunity and a sneak peek at looming documentation changes as a new Medicare payment rule addressing the COVID-19 crisis, issued March 31, breaks with numerous longstanding policy measures.
 

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