Great News for Chiropractic

CMS to significantly increase value of chiropractic CPT codes in 2014

December 4, 2013 — The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) has learned that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will increase the value of chiropractic manipulative treatment (CMT) CPT codes up to 10 percent in the 2014 Physician Fee Schedule beginning Jan. 1.
The change comes after ACA provided CMS-appointed coding committees with key information about the physician-level work involved in the procedures.

The increase in CMT code values is an important step forward for the profession, resulting from ACA's long campaign to expand and increase the value of chiropractic services in Medicare. It was in late 2012 that ACA representatives presented data from a random profession-wide survey on the physician work inherent in CMT codes 98940, 98941, and 98942 to the American Medical Association's RVS Update Committee (RUC) Health Care

Professionals Advisory Committee Review Board (HCPAC). The RUC-HCPAC subsequently recommended an increase in the Relative Value Units (RVUs) for each of the CMT codes in 2014, which CMS accepted.

The new values, outlined below, will be used to calculate the allowable payment for each CPT code that doctors of chiropractic bill.


"At ACA, we are encouraged by this latest positive change and are committed to continuing our campaign to expand the availability and value of chiropractic in Medicare," said ACA President Keith Overland, DC. "We are also especially grateful to ACA Vice President Anthony Hamm, DC, and our research consultant Christine Goertz, DC, PhD, for their tireless efforts in helping the RUC-HCPAC to understand the high-quality physician-level treatment that doctors of chiropractic provide their patients."

Source: American Chiropractic Association

David J. Marcon, DC,CCSP
463 Ohio Pike, Suite 104
Cincinnati, Ohio 45255
(513) 474-1111
www.marconchiropractic.com

Federal agency considers further chiropractic coverage in Medicare

July 12, 2013 — For the first time in more than 40 years, and following a 10-year effort by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has taken a positive step toward expanding coverage for patients to include evaluation and management (E&M) services provided by doctors of chiropractic.
The agency's call for further information on this issue, included in the recently proposed 2014 Physician Fee Schedule Update (CMS-1600-P), is a welcomed opportunity to provide pertinent research and data to demonstrate that establishing such coverage is appropriate.
Since the chiropractic demonstration program was included in the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, ACA has been working with CMS and the U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services (HHS) to secure coverage of the essential services provided by doctors of chiropractic.
The profession has long believed that Medicare beneficiaries deserve this level of access. The ability to provide evaluation and management services as a covered Medicare benefit is an important first step in this direction.
As CMS has posed specific questions within the proposed rule, ACA will work with its Chiropractic Summit partners, senior citizens' organizations and other allies to ensure a coordinated message is prepared in support of this key patient benefit.

 

It is certainly time to expand Chiropractic. We need to base all health care modalities upon results not by degrees.  I have much respect for medicine but it does not make sense for many people to continue medicating and deteriorating when Chiropractic can naturally reduce symptoms and promote other preventative measures to ensure good long term health.

David Marcon, DC
Marcon Chiropractic & Wellness Center
www.marconchiropractic.com

Hospital Wars: Consolidation of Care Already Costing More

"But the consolidation of health care may be coming at a hefty price. By one estimate, under its current reimbursement system, Medicare is paying in excess of a billion dollars a year more for the same services because hospitals, citing higher overall costs, can charge more when the doctors work for them. Laser eye surgery, for example, can cost $738 when performed by a hospital-employed doctor, compared with $389 when done by an unaffiliated doctor, according to national estimates by the independent Congressional panel that oversees Medicare. An echocardiogram can cost about twice as much in a hospital: $319, versus $143 in a doctor’s office.

Conflicts over the changes are numerous. One Florida primary care physician said he could earn a $5,000 bonus for keeping patients in the hospital for less than three days, according to a lawsuit he filed this year. Hospitals, which are typically reimbursed a fixed amount of money for treating a specific illness, can make more money if patients stay for shorter periods of time.

Last month, the Justice Department reached a $9.3 million settlement with Freeman Health System, a hospital group in Joplin, Mo., which was rewarding doctors it employed partly based on how many tests they ordered. Freeman says that it alerted regulators to the potential violations and that patient care was not affected. "

Read the Entire Article:  New York Times


Work Smarter; Not Harder!

Dr. David Marcon
Marcon Chiropractic & Wellness Center
Cincinnati Ohio 45255
www.marconchiropractic.com