AHRA: CMS to release updated billing guidance for low-dose CT lung cancer screening
Expanded ICD-10 codes for billing for low-dose CT lung cancer screening for individuals who smoke or have a history of smoking are on their way, according to the Association for Medical Imaging Management (AHRA).
In a post from its regulatory affairs committee published on the association’s blog, the AHRA said it has been informed by CMS that the updated instructions will now include ICD-10 code F17.2—“currently smoking”—for billing of low-dose CT lung cancer screening.
The AHRA says the update comes after an oversight in the new payment policy containing diagnosis codes for the screening procedures released by CMS last November.
“Unfortunately, CMS neglected to include the code for 'currently smoking' (F17.2) to the list of appropriate ICD-10 diagnosis codes,” the AHRA said in the blog post. “After this oversight was brought to the attention of CMS, the agency acknowledged the error and informed the stakeholder community that they would issue a correction.”
The newly added code will not be effective until July 5, 2016, due to the quarterly CMS coding update schedule.
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