Providers, take note: the Chronic Care Management (CCM) CPT Code 99490 is now payable by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Effective January 1, 2015, the Medicare program began making payments under the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) for certain non-face-to-face management and care coordination services provided to beneficiaries covered under the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program. CCM services include, but are not limited to, development and maintenance of a plan of care, communication with other treating health care professionals, and medication management. In order to be eligible for CCM services, beneficiaries must have two or more chronic conditions, expected to last at least 12 months or until the death of the beneficiary. Claims for CCM services are payable on a monthly basis, must include at least 20 minutes of qualifying services, and are subject to beneficiary coinsurance and deductibles. Information on the availability of CCM services must be conveyed to the beneficiary through a face-to-face visit and the beneficiary must consent to receiving such services. Only one Medicare provider can provide and be paid for CCM services provided to an individual beneficiary during each calendar month.
CMS hosted an MLN Connects National Provider Call on February 18, 2015 to review the requirements for physicians and other practitioners to properly bill the new CCM CPT code. During the call, titled “Chronic Care Management Services: CY 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule,” CMS provided an overview of the requirements for physicians and other practitioners to bill using CPT code 99490. CMS discussed the eligible beneficiary population for CCM services, the scope of CCM services, the Medicare providers who are eligible to provide CCM services (including on an “incident to” basis), and how CCM services might overlap with current demonstration and other initiatives by CMS. CMS noted that portions of the CCM requirements were finalized in two different PFS final rules, some in the CY 2014 final rule and the remainder in the CY 2015 rule. This overview was followed by a robust question and answer session, which provided some of the most interesting takeaways:
- CMS has not established a specific list of chronic conditions that would be covered by the new CCM CPT code. CMS suggested referencing the Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse[1] to identify possible chronic conditions, but cautioned that use of the CCM CPT code would not be limited to the conditions identified therein. According to CMS, until such a time when more prescriptive restrictions could be established, the only limitations with regard to eligible chronic conditions are those outlined in the CPT code description itself.
- Beneficiary consent to receive CCM services remains effective until withdrawn, even if the provider is not able to or otherwise does not bill for the CCM services for a period of time.
- CMS is deferring to the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) many of the specific billing questions about which participants inquired during the call, including how to capture place and date of service details, how to document time spent performing CCM services, and whether time spent by Certified Medical Assistants can count toward the 20 minutes required per calendar month to bill for CCM services.
CMS recently published a new Fact Sheet regarding CCM services (ICN 909188). The Fact Sheet will be a helpful resource for providers seeking to utilize the CCM CPT code and other interested stakeholders, as it covers much of the detail discussed during the CMS call and includes a helpful table that illustrates the alignment between the CCM scope of service elements and billing requirements with the certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) or other electronic technology requirements.
So have the MACs weighed in yet regarding the use of new CPT code 99490? Stay tuned for our next post, in which we will “consult the MAC” to see what helpful guidance, if any, they have provided to date.
[1] Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse, https://www.ccwdata.org/web/guest/home.
Blog Editors
Authors
Member of the Firm
Member of the Firm
