decisionhealth Newsletters, Coder Pink Sheets - 2004 Issue 10 (October)
Screening and diagnostic colonoscopies performed by GIs jump since 2000, with most explosive growth in ASCs
Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.
Article Overview
This article examines Medicare-paid screening and diagnostic colonoscopy utilization over time, focusing on how volumes changed across ambulatory surgical centers, offices, and outpatient hospital settings. It also discusses the broader Medicare policy environment, including ASC payment system issues and MedPAC recommendations. The piece is useful for gastroenterology practices, outpatient facilities, and coding/billing professionals tracking procedure trends and Medicare coverage developments.
Why This Topic Matters
It helps readers understand how colonoscopy utilization patterns shifted across sites of service and why Medicare policy and ASC growth can affect billing and coding analysis.
Article Sections
-
Utilization trends by place of service
This section summarizes Medicare colonoscopy volume changes over multiple years and compares patterns across ambulatory surgical centers, offices, and outpatient hospitals.
-
Medicare coverage and ASC growth factors
This section discusses broader policy and market factors associated with the changes, including Medicare preventive screening coverage and growth in ASC facilities.
-
MedPAC recommendations on ASC payment policy
This section outlines Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommendations related to ASC payment systems, procedure grouping, cost data, and future list revisions.
-
Medicare diagnostic/screening colonoscopies (2000-2003) performed by gastroenterologists
This section presents a table of utilization data for multiple colonoscopy codes by site of service and year.
What You Will Learn
- How Medicare colonoscopy utilization changed over time across different settings
- What policy and market factors are associated with ASC growth
- What MedPAC recommended regarding ASC payment policy
- How the article organizes utilization data for gastroenterology procedures
Who Should Read This
- Gastroenterologists
- Medical coders
- Billing staff
- Ambulatory surgical center administrators
- Healthcare reimbursement analysts
Codes Discussed
Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.


Quick, Current, Complete - www.findacode.com