Skilled nursing facilities puzzled over Medicare policy for bill types 22x and 23x can take some guidance from a May 9 program memorandum from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (A-03-040; ). In the memo, CMS clarifies that bill type 23x should be used for beneficiaries who are placed in a Medicare non-certified part of the facility, while bill type 22x applies for residents who are in non-covered stays but are placed in the Medicare-certified section of the SNF. Bill type 22x is subject to consolidated billing; bill type 23x is not.
In other recent program memoranda CMS:
changes the implementation date for certain policies relating to the processing of non-covered charges (A-03-039; );
spells out coding issues connected with ambulance services that are affected by skilled nursing facility consolidated billing rules (B-03-039; );
issues the July quarterly update to the durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies fee schedule (AB-03-071; );
schedules release dates to Medicare contractors on certain CMS software and pricing updates (AB-03-065; );
announces the posting of the second update to the 2003 Medicare physician fee schedule database (AB-03-070; );
revises policies on contractors' appeals quality improvement and data analysis activities (AB-03-067; );
updates contractor coordination-of-benefits procedures (AB-03-066; );
addresses certain Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act transaction standards concerns (AB-03-068; );
clarifies rules on statements of intent to file a Medicare claim (AB-03-069; ).