REIMBURSEMENT: You Could Lose All Your Payments For 93325 Next Year

Why This Topic Matters

The article highlights a potential policy change that could significantly affect payment for echocardiography services and alter how related CPT codes are reported and reimbursed. It also provides context on advocacy comments submitted to CMS and broader coding and reimbursement developments that may affect cardiology practices.

Article Sections

1. Proposed bundling of color flow Doppler reimbursement

   This section covers CMS’s proposed fee schedule change involving echocardiography reimbursement and physician responses to the proposal. It focuses on the broader policy discussion and practice concerns.

2. CPT Editorial Panel discussion of a new combined code

   This section discusses a CPT Editorial Panel recommendation for a new code expected in 2009 and the surrounding commentary on how that development relates to the existing echocardiography coding structure.

3. Additional comments on fee schedule cuts and quality measures

   This section summarizes other reimbursement-related comments, including a scheduled payment cut, geographic practice expense categories, and support for quality reporting initiatives.