News

Survey of Health Care Providers on Accuracy of Medicare Payments The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) conducts numerous surveys of hospitals and health care providers that are used by the government to make economic decisions that affect the entire medical care system. Key users include CMS, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the U.S. Congress. CMS uses these surveys to adjust Medicare fee-for-service payments each year, affecting approximately $300 billion in payments. If you’re contacted by BLS, please participate in the survey. Recently, many health care providers didn’t complete the survey, which can reduce the representativeness of the data and increase volatility in estimates. Your participation in these surveys helps address these issues and increase the validity of the data. […]

Multi-specialty Relative Value Scale Update Committee Reimbursement Surveys for Spine Surgical Procedures The Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) acts as advisory body to CMS in setting Relative Value Units (RVUs) in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. As part of their valuation process, the RUC works with specialty societies like ISASS to survey specialty society members on their relative resource use in providing services. In the coming weeks, ISASS is working with the RUC on resource surveys for spine procedures. For Common Procedural Terminology (CPT) 2022, the CPT Editorial Panel revised codes 22630, 22632, 22633, and 22634 and created two new add-on codes to report decompression at the time of posterior lumbar interbody fusion/transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (630XX and 630X1) […]

New 2021 Category III CPT Codes for Allogenic Disc Matrix Material On January 1, 2021, four new CPT codes for reporting injection of allogenic disc matrix material went into effect. The four new CPT codes are: 0627T   Percutaneous injection of allogeneic cellular and/or tissue-based product, intervertebral disc, unilateral or bilateral injection, with fluoroscopic guidance, lumbar; first level 0628T   Percutaneous injection of allogeneic cellular and/or tissue-based product, intervertebral disc, unilateral or bilateral injection, with fluoroscopic guidance, lumbar; each additional level (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure) 0629T   Percutaneous injection of allogeneic cellular and/or tissue-based product, intervertebral disc, unilateral or bilateral injection, with CT guidance, lumbar; first level 0630T Percutaneous injection of allogeneic cellular and/or tissue-based […]