Durable medical equipment suppliers have a host of new "K" codes to get familiar with, thanks to a trio of April 11 program memoranda from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
In the memos (AB-03-043; , AB-03-044; and AB-03-045; ), CMS adds temporary K codes for:
thoracic lumbar sacral orthosis (K0618 and K0619); and
dialysis supplies, speech generating devices and automatic defibrillators and supplies (K0606 through K0617).
The agency also adds two K codes (K0620 and K0621) for surgical dressings.
In other recent program memoranda CMS:
clarifies coverage and billing policies for percutaneous image-guided breast biopsy (AB-03-042; );
lists educational resources available for 2003 changes to the hospital outpatient prospective payment system (A-03-027; );
announces outpatient code editor updates for bills from hospitals that aren't paid under the OPPS (A-03-028; );
provides technical instruction to DME regional carriers on retail pharmacy drug transactions (B-03-024; );
gives DMERCs instructions on processing claims for the DeWall Posture Protector orthotic body jacket (B-03-025; );
corrects wage index values and hospital geographical classifications listed erroneously in an Aug. 1 Federal Register installment (A-03-029; ); and
supplements carrier instruction on processing claims for services provided during the first two months of this year and paid under the physician fee schedule (B-03-023; ).