Claims Training Boot Camp

CLAIMS TRAINING BOOT CAMP
 PRESENTED BY:
RICH HENRIKSEN,
CEO of Nokomis Health, Inc.
 JUNE 2, 2016

TOPICS COVERED IN THIS SECTION
• Life cycle of a medical claim – routine physician visit
• Life cycle of a medical claim – hospital emergency admission
• Physician and hospital charges
• Claim forms: CMS-1500 and UB04
• HIPAA EDI data sets: 837, 834, 270, 272, etc.

LIFE CYCLE OF A MEDICAL CLAIM:
PHYSICIAN OFFICE, PRE-VISIT
Patient schedules appointment
Office verifies insurance coverage, pre-
registers patient
Office or patient obtains prior authorization
or referral (if required by plan)

PHYSICIAN OFFICE, TIME OF VISIT
Office checks in patient and collects copay or
coinsurance estimate
Patient receives services
Physician dictates visit notes and assigns codes
using “superbill” or electronically via clinic
management system

PHYSICIAN OFFICE, POST VISIT
Office staff enter charges into practice management system
Office sends claim to clearinghouse via 837P EDI file
Clearinghouse forwards claim to payor
Payor adjudicates claim, sends remittance advice (RA) to
provider and explanation of benefits (EOB) to member
Office posts payment and bills member for any remaining
financial responsibility

STEP 1: PATIENT REGISTRATION
• Provider records patient’s demographic and insurance information
• Provider obtains prior authorization or precertification (if required by
plan), also ensures that referral is present if required
• Provider may check patient eligibility from payor either by phone or
electronically
• Outbound request is the HIPAA 270 EDI data set
• Response from payor is the HIPAA 271 EDI data set
• Provider may collect copayment or a portion of deductible or
coinsurance

NOTES ABOUT PATIENT ELIGIBILITY
• Payors receive eligibility files from plan sponsors via HIPAA 834
data set
• Patient data is very difficult to keep “clean” and up to date
• Data is often keyed by hand, resulting in errors
• Premium payments may be delayed or credited to incorrect accounts
• There are often retroactive adds, changes, and deletes to group
enrollments

STEP 2: PROVIDE SERVICES
• Physician examines patient and orders ancillary services (lab, X-ray,
etc.) if needed
• Patient receives ancillary services and the encounter ends
• Physician dictates the encounter and marks the services performed
either electronically or on a paper charge ticket (referred to as a
“superbill”); often will also select the diagnosis based on a list of
common diagnoses

SAMPLE PHYSICIAN DICTATION:
PHYSICIAN OFFICE
SUBJECTIVE: Mom brings patient in today
because of sore throat starting last night. Eyes
have been very puffy. He has taken some
Benadryl when all of this congestion started but
with a sudden onset just yesterday. He has had
low-grade fever and just felt very run down,
appearing very tired. He is still eating and drinking
well, and his voice has been hoarse but no
coughing. No shortness of breath, vomiting,
diarrhea or abdominal pain.
PAST MEDICAL HISTORY: Unremarkable. There
is no history of allergies. He does have some
history of some episodes of high blood pressure,
and his weight is up about 14 pounds from the last
year.
FAMILY HISTORY: Noncontributory. No one else
at home is sick.
OBJECTIVE:
General:
A 13-year-old male appearing tired but in no acute
distress.
Neck: Supple without adenopathy.
HEENT: Ear canals clear. TMs, bilaterally, gray in color.
Good light reflex. Oropharynx pink and moist. No
erythema or exudate. Some drainage is seen in the
posterior pharynx.
Nares: Swollen, red. No drainage seen. No sinus
tenderness. Eyes are clear.
Chest: Respirations are regular and non-labored.
Lungs: Clear to auscultation throughout.
Heart: Regular rhythm without murmur.
Skin: Warm, dry and pink, moist mucous membranes. No
rash.

SAMPLE PHYSICIAN DICTATION:
PHYSICIAN OFFICE (CONTINUED)
LABORATORY: Strep test is negative. Strep culture is negative.
RADIOLOGY: Water's View of the sinuses is negative for any sinusitis or acute
infection.
ASSESSMENT: Upper respiratory infection.
PLAN: At this point just treat symptomatically. I gave him some samples of Levall
for the congestion and as an expectorant. Push fluids and rest. May use
ibuprofen or Tylenol for discomfort.

STEP 3: CHARGE CAPTURE
• Billing staff enter procedure codes and diagnoses codes (if not already
recorded) into billing system
• Records may be audited for level of service assignment and other
reviews may be conducted prior to billing

STEP 4: CLAIM SUBMISSION
• Billing staff create batch file for submission to payor, either directly
or through clearinghouse
• Outbound claims file is the HIPAA 837 EDI data set
• Most claims go through several claim edits before payor accepts
claim, ensuring completeness and accuracy
• Billing software claim edits
• Clearinghouse edits
• Payor edit

CLAIM FORM TYPES
• Providers other than pharmacies use one of the following two
claim forms:
• CMS-1500 – professional claim form – used by physicians,
therapists, and other professionals
• UB-04 – institutional claim form – used by facilities including
hospitals, surgery centers, skilled nursing facilities, home health
agencies, some transportation providers, etc.

PROFESSIONAL CLAIM FORM: CMS-1500
• CMS-1500 (HCFA-1500) insurance claim form is used for
reporting physician (professional services) and supplier
information
• Information spaces on the claim are referred to as an
“item”
• Most payors require CMS-1500 information to be submitted
electronically; this is the HIPAA 837P (professional) data
set

SAMPLE
PROFESSIONAL CLAIM
FORM (CMS-1500)

STEP 5-1: PAYOR RECEIVES CLAIM
• Payor receives electronic claims directly from providers, more
typically through claim clearinghouses such as WebMD (now
Emdeon)
• Payor must enter paper claims manually into its claim system (or via
scanning software)

STEP 5-2: PAYOR ADJUDICATES CLAIM
• Payor passes claim through multiple edits prior to payment
• Is member active and eligible for the date of service?
• Are all required data elements present and accurate?
• Is the physician in-network for this member?
• Are the services a covered benefit for this member?
• Are the procedure codes subject to bundling, downcoding, code edit denials, etc.? Payors often use
proprietary software and external vendors to search for claim savings, often under the umbrella of
“fraud, waste and abuse”
• Is there a different primary payor?
• Is the claim related to a motor vehicle accident or a workers compensation injury?
• Is this a duplicate or corrected claim?
• Has the patient met his/her annual or lifetime maximums for this service?

STEP 5-3: PAYOR DETERMINES PAYMENT
• Payor calculates allowed amount based on contract rate or applicable fee schedule,
then applies member responsibility to calculate plan payable/ member payable
amounts
• Most payors reimburse physicians the lesser of the billed charge for each code or the fee
maximum that the payor has set for that code
• Other than large physician groups, most payor contracts do not specify the fee maximums;
physicians can obtain a sampling of fee maximums upon request
• The difference between the allowed amount and billed charges is “provider discount,” which
the provider must by contract write off
• Providers who do not participate with a health plan (“out of network”) are typically
reimbursed according to the payor’s “usual and customary” charge allowance for that region;
the physician may balance bill the member for the unpaid portion of the bill, up to billed
charges

STEP 5-4: PAYOR MAKES PAYMENT
• Payor remits payment (check or electronic funds transfer) to physician
along with Remittance Advice (RA) which shows how each claim line
was adjudicated
• The electronic version of the RA is the HIPAA 835 EDI data set
• Allowed amounts are shown, which are separated into payor and patient
liability
• Discounts, denials, other disallowed charges are shown with reason
codes
• Payor sends Explanation of Benefits (EOB) to member

SAMPLE EXPLANATION
OF BENEFITS (EOB)

STEP 6: PHYSICIAN POSTS PAYMENT AND BILLS
MEMBER FOR AMOUNTS DUE
• Payments are posted either electronically or manually
• The patient is billed for their financial responsibility (unless already
collected)
• Physician office may compare actual payment with expected payment
to ensure that payor is paying according to contract
• Physician office researches and responds to claim denials by
submitting corrected claims, appeals, additional documentation, etc.

HOSPITAL ENCOUNTERS
Patients commonly receive services from multiple providers during a
hospital encounter, resulting in multiple claims
HospitalAnesthesiologist
ER physician
Attending MD
CRNA
Pathologist
Surgeon Radiologist
Specialty consult

FACILITY CLAIM FORM: UB-04
• The Uniform Bill 2004 (UB-04) is also known as the HCFA-1450 and replaced the UB-92 in
2005
• The UB-04 is used for both inpatient and outpatient facility services
• The National Uniform Billing Committee (NUBC) establishes and maintains a complete list
of the allowable data elements and codes used on the UB-04 claim
• The UB-04 contains 81 form locators (FLs)
• A FL is a data field
• Some FLs must be completed, some are used only when applicable to specific claims,
and others are reserved for future use
• The UB-04 has 22 service lines on a single form
• The UB-04, when submitted electronically, can accept 450 service lines

PHYSICIAN CHARGES
• Each clinic has its own fee schedule (the amount that they charge
for each CPT or HCPCS (procedure) code)
o Each code typically has only one charge
o Physicians charge the same amount to all payors, although each
payor may reimburse at a different amount
o The exception to this rule is for non-participating Medicare providers, who are
limited to charging the Medicare Limiting Charge
o Physicians often use RBRVS to set their fees
o Physicians can update their fees at any time, but most do so annually
(or less often)

SAMPLE PHYSICIAN CHARGEMASTER
(SELECTED CODES)
CPT Code Description Charge
99201 New patient visit, level 1 $60.00
99211 Established patient visit, level 1 $30.00
81005 Urinalysis $8.00
82310 Calcium test; total $13.00
90707 Measles, mumps, rubella vaccine $104.00

HOSPITAL CHARGEMASTER
• The hospital chargemaster is the hospital’s “catalog” of all services that are provided
by that hospital
• Organized by department – the following are included for each item
o Hospital’s item number (for internal use)
o Department number (determines which cost center is credited with the revenue for that
item)
o Item description – used for claim detail
o Price (charge) per unit
o Cost (sometimes – depends on hospital’s cost accounting system)
o Revenue code (always)
o HCPCS codes, if required because of that item’s revenue code

HOSPITAL CHARGEMASTER (CONTINUED)
• A typical chargemaster has thousands of items
• Some states, such as Calif., require hospitals to make their chargemasters
public
• There are many types of charge lines
o Recurring charges (room)
o Charges tied to order entry (lab, pharmacy, x-ray)
o Time-based charges (OR, anesthesia)
o Items for which the charge varies from patient to patient (implants)
o Charges which do not require HCPCS or CPT codes
o Charges for which the HCPCS or CPT code is assigned at the chargemaster level
o Charges for which the HCPCS or CPT code is assigned by HIM

SAMPLE HOSPITAL CHARGEMASTER (SELECTED
CODES)
Item # Description Cost
center
Rev
code
HCPCS
code
Charge Notes
101670 ICU DAILY 1220 0206 $3,479.00 Room charge, no HCPCS
needed
105657 CBC 3430 0300 85025 $104.00 CPT code in the chargemaster
667765 SEQUENTIAL
COMPRESSION
SLEEVE
1330 0270 $196.00 Supply charge, no HCPCS or
CPT code needed
273309 INJ ENOXAPARIN
SODIUM
4480 0636 J1650 $13.35 Drug charge with HCPCS code
246639 GUAIFENESIN 4480 0250 $1.50 Drug charge with no HCPCS
code
334789 OR LEVEL 3, FIRST 15
MIN
6310 0360 Assigned
by HIM for
OP claims
$3,540.00 CPT code not in chargemaster,
assigned by HIM on case by
case basis

HOSPITAL CLAIM: CHARGE CAPTURE
• Charges are accumulated through interfaces with main hospital
information system
• Lab tests, radiology services, pharmacy, other ancillary services: each
department’s information system passes information to main billing
system which pulls associated procedure codes and charge information
for each test or procedure
• Room charges – automatic if patient is in bed at midnight (or less)
• Operating room charges – may be manually entered or may be automatic
based on OR scheduling system
• Supplies – manually entered by applicable department

HOSPITAL CODING
• Health information management (HIM, formerly known as the
medical records department) staff review records after patient is
discharged and assign these codes to the entire encounter:
o ICD-10 diagnosis codes
o ICD-10 procedure codes (if applicable)
o CPT codes for surgeries, interventional procedures
• Other procedure codes reside in the chargemaster and are
automatically brought forward to the claim

HIPAA EDI – ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGES
• Most payors now require providers to submit claims electronically
• Many payors also require providers to accept remittance advices (RAs)
electronically
• Providers and payors use the HIPAA electronic data interchange (EDI, or X12)
sets to accomplish this
• Some providers use clearinghouses to send and receive EDI data sets;
whether they send claims directly to payors or through a clearinghouse
depends on the provider’s billing system and how it is configured
• Historically version 4010 was being used; on Jan. 1, 2012 the newest version
5010 became effective; 5010 allows for the larger field size of ICD-10 as well
as other improvements

KEY HIPAA EDI DATA SETS USED BY PROVIDERS
Key HIPAA EDI sets used by providers and payors include:
• 270 EDI Health Care Eligibility/Benefit Inquiry – used to inquire about the health care
benefits and eligibility associated with a subscriber or dependent; sent from provider to
payor
• 271 EDI Health Care Eligibility/Benefit Response – used to respond to an inquiry about
health care benefits and eligibility associated with a subscriber or dependent; sent from
payor to provider
• 276 EDI Health Care Claim Status Request – used by provider to request the status of a
claim
• 277 EDI Health Care Claim Status Notification – used by payor to notify provider
regarding the status of a claim, or to request additional information from provider
regarding a claim
• 278 EDI Health Care Service Review Information – used to transmit health care service
information for the purpose of request for review, certification, notification or reporting the
outcome of a health care services review

KEY HIPAA EDI DATA SETS USED BY PROVIDERS
(CONTINUED)
• 835 EDI Health Care Claim Payment/Advice Transaction Set – used to send a remittance
advice or explanation of payment from payor to provider
• 837 EDI Health Care Claim Transaction Set - used by providers to submit claim billing
information to payors; not used for retail pharmacy
• EDI Retail Pharmacy Claim Transaction (NCPDP Telecommunications Standard version
5.1) – used to submit retail pharmacy claims from pharmacy to payor

KEY HIPAA EDI DATA SETS USED BY EMPLOYERS
AND PLAN SPONSORS
• 834 EDI Benefit Enrollment and Maintenance Set – used to manage enrollment
information; sent from employer, union, group sponsor, etc. to payor
• 820 EDI Payroll Deducted and other Group Premium Payment for Insurance Products –
used to make premium payment for insurance products; can be used to order a financial
institution to make a payment to payee

NATIONAL PRACTITIONER IDENTIFIERS (NPIS)
• The National Practitioner Identifier (NPI) is a HIPAA Administrative
Simplification Standard
• NPI is a 10-digit numeric identifier assigned to both individuals and
groups/facilities; most payors require NPIs on all claims
• Payors used to assign their own provider numbers, so that a provider used to
have many different numbers
• Problems arose when payors required legacy provider numbers in addition to
or in lieu of NPIs; most payors now require providers to use NPIs only on their
claims

CLAIM ANALYSIS TIPS
• Include modifiers when analyzing claims that can be split into technical and professional
components (TC and 26 modifiers)
• When studying an encounter, be sure to pull all related claims
• Watch for duplicate, denied, and corrected claims
• UB04 claims are sometimes “rolled up”’ by the payor, especially if payment is a fixed rate
amount that applies to the entire claim
• Watch for interim UB04 claims (typically for ongoing outpatient services or lengthy inpatient
admissions)
• Consider “allowed” versus “paid” when conducting financial analyses
• Consider whether claims are secondary or apply to supplemental products

HEALTHCARE CODING OVERVIEW – MAJOR
TYPES OF CODES USED IN THE HEALTHCARE
INDUSTRY TODAY• International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) (retired Sep. 30,
2015)
• ICD-9 diagnosis
• ICD-9 procedure
• ICD-10-CM (implemented Oct. 1, 2015)
• ICD-10 diagnosis
• ICD-10-PCS (Procedure Coding System)
• HCFA Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS)
• Level 1 – Current Procedural Terminology, 4th Edition (CPT-4 or CPT)
• Level II – HCPCS Level II or HCPCS
• Revenue codes
• Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Groups (MS-DRGs)
• Ambulatory Patient Classifications (APCs)

WHY IS MEDICARE RELEVANT FOR COMMERCIAL
CODING AND REIMBURSEMENT?
• Most health plans follow at least a portion of Medicare coding and billing
guidelines
• Many health plans base their reimbursement methods on Medicare’s methods
• Some key Medicare terms
• CMS – the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, formerly known as
the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA); this federal agency is
under the Secretary of Health and Human Services and administers the
Medicare program
• Medicare carriers and intermediaries – private organizations and
companies which contract with CMS to administer the Medicare program

ICD CODES: OVERVIEW
• The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is updated and maintained by the
World Health Organization (WHO)
• ICD-9-CM developed in 1970s
• WHO’s 9th revision of ICD (ICD-9) had attained wide international recognition by 1970s
• The U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, part of Centers for Disease Control,
modified ICD-9 with clinical information
• These clinical modifications provided a way to classify morbidity data for indexing of
medical records, medical case reviews, and ambulatory and other medical care programs,
as well as for basic health statistics
• Result was the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification
(ICD-9-CM), commonly referred to as ICD-9, which precisely delineates the clinical picture
of each patient

ICD CODES: OVERVIEW (CONTINUED)
• WHO has developed 10th revision of ICD
• Has been in use in most other countries since 1990s
• Notable improvements in content and format over ICD-9-CM
• addition of information relevant to ambulatory and managed care encounters
• expanded injury codes
• creation of combination diagnosis/symptom codes to reduce the number of codes needed to fully
describe a condition
• greater specificity in code assignment
• will allow further expansion than was possible with ICD-9-CM
• allows providers to better identify certain patients with specific conditions that will benefit from tailored
disease management programs, such as asthma, diabetes, and hypertension
• allows for better understanding of relationship of cost to specific medical conditions

TRANSITION FROM ICD-9 TO ICD-10
• ICD-10 includes two sets of codes
• ICD-10-CM – diagnosis codes
• Volume 1 – tabular listing
• Volume 2 – index
• ICD-10-PCS (Procedure Coding System) – procedure codes, only for inpatient (for
Medicare – other payors may require ICD-10-PCS for outpatient claims billed on a
UB04)
• After many delays, ICD-10 transition occurred on Oct. 1, 2015 for all covered entities,
including health plans, clearinghouses, and providers
• To accommodate ICD-10, CMS mandated transition from version 4010 to version 5010 of
the electronic health standards for HIPAA transactions; deadline was Jan. 1, 2012

ICD-10-CM FORMAT
• Index
• Alphabetical list of terms and their corresponding code
• Index to Diseases and Injuries (main index)
• Index to External Causes of Injury
• Neoplasm Table
• Tabular list
• Table of Drugs and Chemicals
• Sequential, alphanumeric list of codes divided into chapters based on body system or
condition
• Contains categories, subcategories, and valid codes

ICD-10-CM FORMAT
• First character of a 3-character category is a letter
• Second and third characters may be numbers or alpha characters
• A three-character category without further subclassification is equivalent to a valid
three-character code
• Subcategories are either four or five characters and include either letters or numbers
• Codes may be four, five, or six characters in length, in which each level of subdivision
after a category is a subcategory
• The final level of subdivision is a valid code and may be either a letter or number

ICD-10 DIAGNOSIS CODING GUIDELINES
• Identify each service, procedure, or supply with an ICD-10 diagnosis code to
describe the diagnosis, symptom, complaint, condition, or problem
• Code the principal diagnosis first, followed by the secondary, tertiary, and so on
• Code any coexisting conditions that affect the treatment of the patient for that visit or
procedure as supplementary information
• Do not code a diagnosis that is no longer applicable
• Providers should code only the current condition that prompted the patient’s visit
• Many times a patient has a long list of chronic complaints that are not the reason for
the specific visit; providing nonessential information of this nature can cloud the
determination of medical necessity and delay payment

ICD-10 DIAGNOSIS CODING GUIDELINES CON’T
• Chronic complaints should be coded only when the patient has received treatment for
the condition
• When the diagnostic statement identifies an acute condition, providers should use
the code that specifies “acute” whenever it is available
• Providers should be as specific as possible in specifying diagnosis (i.e., code to the
highest level of specificity)
• When the diagnostic statement is general or generic, coders need to investigate
further
• If the information is not available in the record, coders should ask questions of the
physician or care provider
• Coders should code only what is documented in the medical record or chart

ICD-10-CM DIAGNOSIS CODES – MAJOR
CATEGORIES
Chapter 1. Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (A00-B99)
Chapter 2. Neoplasms (C00-D49)
Chapter 3. Diseases of the Blood and Blood-forming Organs and Certain Disorders Involving the Immune Mechanism (D50-D89)
Chapter 4. Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases (E00-E89)
Chapter 5. Mental, Behavioral, and Neurodevelopmental Disorders F01-F99)
Chapter 6. Diseases of the Nervous System (G00-G99)
Chapter 7. Diseases of the Eye and Adnexa (H00-H59)
Chapter 8. Diseases of the Ear and Mastoid Process (H60-H95)
Chapter 9. Diseases of the Circulatory System (I00-I99)
Chapter 10. Diseases of the Respiratory System (J00-J99)
Chapter 11. Diseases of the Digestive System (K00-K95)
Chapter 12. Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue (L00-L99)
Chapter 13. Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue (M00-M99)
Chapter 14. Diseases of the Genitourinary System (N00-N99)
Chapter 15. Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Puerperium (O00-O9A)
Chapter 16. Certain Conditions Originating in the Perinatal Period (P00-P96)
Chapter 17. Congenital Malformations, Deformations and Chromosomal Abnormalities (Q00-Q99)
Chapter 18. Symptoms, Signs and Abnormal Clinical and Laboratory Findings, Not Elsewhere Classified (R00-R99)
Chapter 19. Injury, Poisoning and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes (S00-T88)
Chapter 20. External Causes of Morbidity (V00-Y99)
Chapter 21. Factors Influencing Health Status and Contact With Health Services (Z00-Z99)

ICD-10-CM DIAGNOSIS CODES – EXAMPLE
Chapter 7. Diseases of the Eye and Adnexa (H00-H59)
H00-H05 Diseases of eyelid, lacrimal system and orbit
H10-H11 Disorders of conjunctiva
H15-H22 Disorders of sclera, cornea, iris and ciliary body
H25-H28 Disorders of lens
H30-H36 Disorders of choroid and retina
H40-H42 Glaucoma
H43-H44 Disorders of vitreous body and globe
H46-H47 Disorders of optic nerve and visual pathways
H49-H52 Disorders of ocular muscles, binocular movement, accommodation and refraction
H53-H54 Visual disturbances and blindness
H55-H57 Other disorders of eye and adnexa
H59 Intraoperative and postprocedural complications and disorders of eye and adnexa, not elsewhere classified

ICD-10-CM DIAGNOSIS CODES – EXAMPLE
(CONTINUED)
H52 Disorders of refraction and accommodation
H52.0 Hypermetropia H52.229 Regular astigmatism, unspecified eye
H52.00 Hypermetropia, unspecified eye H52.3 Anisometropia and aniseikonia
H52.01 Hypermetropia, right eye H52.31 Anisometropia
H52.02 Hypermetropia, left eye H52.32 Anisekonia
H52.03 Hypermetropia, bilateral H52.4 Presbyopia
H52.1 Myopia H52.5 Disorders of accommodation
H52.10 Myopia, unspecified eye H52.51 Internal ophthalmoplegia (complete) (total)
H52.11 Myopia, right eye H52.511 Internal ophthalmoplegia (complete) (total), right eye
H52.12 Myopia, left eye H52.512 Internal ophthalmoplegia (complete) (total), left eye
H52.13 Myopia, bilateral H52.513 Internal ophthalmoplegia (complete) (total), bilateral
H52.2 Astigmatism H52.519 Internal opthalmoplegia (complete) (total), unspecified eye
H52.20 Unspecified astigmatism H52.52 Paresis of accommodation
H52.201 Unspecified astigmatism, right eye H52.521 Paresis of accommodation, right eye
H52.202 Unspecified astigmatism, left eye H52.522 Paresis of accommodation, left eye
H52.203 Unspecified astigmatism, bilateral H52.523, Paresis of accommodateion, bilateral
H52.209 Unspecified astigmatism, unspecified eye H52.529 Paresis of accommodation, unspecified eye
H52.21 Irregular astigmatism H52.53 Spasm of accommodation
H52.211 Irregular astigmatism, right eye H52.531 Spasm of accommodation, right eye
H52.212 Irregular astigmatism, left eye H52.532 Spasm of accommodation, left eye
H52.213 Irregular astigmatism, bilateral H52.533 Spasm of accommodation, bilateral
H52.219 Irregular astigmatism, unspecified eye H52.534 Spasm of accommodation, unspecified eye
H52.22 Regular astigmatism H52.6 Other disorders of refraction
H52.221 Regular astigmatism, right eye H52.7 Unspecified disorders of refraction
H52.222 Regular astigmatism, left eye
H52.223 Regular astigmatism, bilateral

ICD-9 DIAGNOSIS
CODES:
CATEGORIES
Code Category
001-139 Infectious and parasitic diseases
140-239 Neoplasms
240-279 Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases, and immunity disorders
280-289 Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs
290-319 Mental, behavioral and neurodevelopmental
320-389 Diseases of the nervous system and sense organs
390-459 Diseases of the circulatory system
460-519 Diseases of the respiratory system
520-579 Diseases of the digestive system
580-629 Diseases of the genitourinary system
630-679 Complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium
680-709 Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue
710-739 Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue
740-759 Congenital anomalies
760-779 Certain diseases originating in the perinatal period
780-799 Symptoms, signs, and ill-defined conditions
800-999 Injury and poisoning
E000-E999 Supplementary classification of external causes of injury and poisoning
V01-V91 Supplementary classification of factors influencing health status and contact with health
services

ICD-9 DIAGNOSIS CODES: EXAMPLE
360-379 Disorders of the eye and adnexa
360 Disorders of the globe
361 Retinal detachments and defects
362 Other retinal disorders
363 Chorioretinal inflammations, scars, and other disorders of choroid
364 Disorders of iris and ciliary body
365 Glaucoma
366 Cataract
367 Disorders of refraction and accommodation
368 Visual disturbances
369 Blindness and low vision
370 Keratitis
371 Corneal opacity & other disorders of cornea
372 Disorders of conjunctiva
373 Inflammation of eyelids
374 Other disorders of eyelids
375 Disorders of lacrimal system
376 Disorders of the orbit
377 Disorders of the optic nerve and visual pathways
378 Strabisimus and other disorders of binocular eye movements
379 Other disorders of eye
380-389 Diseases of the ear and mastoid process
320-389 Diseases of the nervous system and sense organs
320-326 Inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system
327 Organic sleep disorders
330-337 Hereditary and degenerative diseases of the central nervous
system
338 Pain
339 Other headache syndromes
340-349 Other diseases of the central nervous system
350-359 Disorders of the peripheral nervous system

ICD-9 DIAGNOSIS CODES: EXAMPLE (CONTINUED)
367 Disorders of refraction and accommodation
367.0 Hypermetropia
Far-sightedness
Hyperopia
367.1 Myopia
Near-sightedness
367.2 Astigmatism
367.20 Astigmatism, unspecified
367.21 Regular astigmatism
367.22 Irregular astigmatism
367.3 Anisometropia and aniseikonia
367.31 Anisometropia
367.32 Aniseikonia
367.4 Presbyopia
367.5 Disorders of accommodation
367.51 Paresis of accommodation
Cycloplegia
367.52 Total or complete internal opthalmoplegia
367.53 Spasm of accommodation
367.8 Other disorders of refraction and accommodation
367.81 Transient refractive change
367.89 Other
Drug-induced disorders of refraction and accommodation
Toxic disorders of refraction and accommodation
367.9 Unspecified disorder of refraction and accommodation
Coders should code to the
5th digit wherever possible
(highest level of specificity)

V CODES
• V-codes are used for supplementary classification of factors
influencing health status and contact with health services
• V-codes range from V01-V91
• Can be one or two digits following the decimal
• Used for circumstances other than a disease or injury classifiable with
ICD-9 diagnosis codes
• V-codes are reported in the ICD-9 diagnosis fields on CMS-1500 and
UB-04
• V-codes are not used in place of procedure codes

THREE MAIN WAYS THAT GIVE RISE TO USE OF V-
CODES
• When a person who is not currently sick encounters the health services for some specific purpose
• to act as a donor of an organ or tissue
• to receive prophylactic vaccination
• to discuss a problem which is in itself not a disease or injury
• When a person with a known disease or injury, whether it is current or resolving, encounters the healthcare
system for a specific treatment of that disease or injury
• dialysis for renal disease
• chemotherapy for malignancy
• cast changes
• When some circumstance or problem is present which influences the person’s health status but is not in
itself a current illness or injury
• a personal history of certain diseases
• a person with an artificial heart valve in situ

V-CODES:
CATEGORIES
Code Category
V01-V06 Persons with potential health hazards related to communicable disease
V07-V09 Persons with need for isolation, other potential health hazards and prophylactic measures
V10-V19 Persons with potential health hazards related to personal and family history
V20-V29 Persons encountering health services in circumstances related to reproduction & development
V30-V39 Liveborn infants according to type of birth
V40-V49 Persons with a condition influencing their health status
V50-V59 Persons encountering health services for specific procedures and aftercare
V60-V69 Persons encountering health services in other circumstances
V70-V82 Persons without reported diagnosis encountered during examination and investigation of
individuals and populations
V83-V84 Genetics
V85 Body mas index
V86 Estrogen receptor status
V87 Other specified personal exposures and history presenting hazards to health
V88 Acquired absence of other organs and tissue
V89 Other suspected conditions not found
V90 Retained foreign body
V91 Multiple gestation placenta status

V-CODES: EXAMPLE
V30-39 Liveborn infants according to the type of birth
The following fourth-digit subdivisions are for use with categories V30-V39:
0 Born in hospital
1 Born before admission to hospital
2 Born outside hospital and not hospitalized
The following two fifth-digit subdivisions are for use with the forth digit .0, born in hospital:
0 Delivered without mention of cesarean delivery
1 Delivered by cesarean delivery
V30 Single liveborn
V31 Twin, mate liveborn
V32 Twin, mate stillborn
V33 Twin, unspecified
V34 Other multiple, mates all liveborn
V35 Other multiple, mates all stillborn
V36 Other multiple, mates live- and stillborn
V37 Other multiple, unspecified
V39 Unspecified
Normal newborn girl, born in hospital, vaginal delivery = V30.00
Normal twins, born in hospital by cesarean delivery = V31.01 for each infant

E CODES
• Used for supplementary classification of external causes of injury and poisoning
• Provided to permit the classification of environmental events, circumstances, and conditions
as to the cause of injury, poisoning, and other adverse effects
• When use of an E-code is applicable, it is intended that the E-code is used in addition to a
code from one of the main chapters of ICD-9, indicating the nature of the condition
• Reported in the ICD-9 diagnosis fields on CMS-1500 and UB-04
• E-codes not used consistently, although
• required on death records for deaths arising from injury
• primarily used by trauma centers
• not required by Medicare

E-CODES:
CATEGORIES
Code Category
E000 External cause status
E001-E030 Activity
E800-E848 Transport accidents
E849 Place of occurrence
E850-E858 Accidental poisoning by drugs, medicinal substances, and biologicals
E860-E869 Accidental poisoning by other solid and liquid substances, gases, and vapors
E870-E876 Misadventures to patients during surgical and medical care
E878-E879 Surgical and medical procedures as the cause of abnormal reaction of patient or later complication, without mention of
misadventure at the time of procedure
E880-E888 Accidental falls
E890-E899 Accidents caused by fire and flames
E900-E909 Accidents due to natural and environmental factors
E910-E915 Accidents caused by submersion, suffocation, and foreign bodies
E916-E928 Other accidents
E939 Late effects of accidental injury
E930-E949 Drugs, medicinal and biological substances causing adverse effects in therapeutic use
E950-E959 Suicide and self-inflicted injury
E960-E969 Homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons
E970-E978 Legal intervention
E979 Terrorism
E980-E989 Injury undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted
E990-E999 Injury resulting from operations of war

E-CODES: EXAMPLE
E906 Other injury caused by animals
E906.0 Dog bite
E906.1 Rat bite
E906.2 Bite of nonvenomous snakes and lizards
E906.3 Bite of other animal except arthropod
Cats
Moray eel
Rodents, except rats
Shark
E906.4 Bite of nonvenomous arthropod
Insect bite NOS
E906.5 Bite by unspecified animal
Animal bite NOS
E906.8 Other specified injury caused by animal
Butted by animal
Fallen on by horse or other animal, not being ridden
Gored by animal
Implantation of quills of porcupine
Pecked by bird
Run over by animal, not being ridden
Stepped on by animal, not being ridden
E906.9 Unspecified injury caused by animal

ICD-10-PCS FORMAT
• Each character of ICD-10-PCS (procedure coding system) has a specific meaning.
Placement of characters is based on the following schema:
1 Section
2 Body System
3 Root Operation
4 Body Part
5 Approach
6 Device
7 Qualifier
• Used to document procedures performed during the encounter
• Ranked in priority of significance
• Used only on UB-04 claims
• A claim may or may not have an ICD-10 procedure code

ICD-10-PCS PROCEDURE CODES – MAJOR
CATEGORIES
Medical and Surgical-Related Sections
0 Medical and Surgical
1 Obstetrics
2 Placement
2 Administration
3 Measurement and Monitoring
4 Extracorporeal Assistance and Performance
5 Extracorporeal Therapies
6 Osteopathic
7 Other Procedures
8 Chiropractic
9 Imaging
Ancillary Sections
C Nuclear Medicine
D Radiation Therapy
E Physical Rehabilitation and Diagnostic Audiology
G Mental Health
H Substance Abuse Treatment

ICD-10-PCS PROCEDURE CODES – EXAMPLE
080 – Medical and Surgical – Eye – Alteration
Section: 0 – Medical and Surgical
Body system: 8 – Eye
Operation: 0 – Alteration: Modifying the anatomic structure of a body part without affecting the function of the body part
Body Part Approach Device Qualifier
N – Upper Eyelid, Right 0 – Open 7 – Autologous Tissue Substitute Z – No Qualifier
P – Upper Eyelid, Left 3 – Percutaneous J – Synthetic Substitute
Q – Lower Eyelid, Right X – External K – Nonautologous Tissue Substitute
R – Lower Eyelid, Left Z – No Device
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
080N07Z: Medical and Surgical Eye Alteration Upper Eyelid, Right Open Autologous Tissue Substitute No Qualifier
080N0JZ: Medical and Surgical Eye Alteration Upper Eyelid, Right Open Synthetic Substitute No Qualifier
080N0KZ: Medical and Surgical Eye Alteration Upper Eyelid, Right Open Nonautologous Tissue Substitute No Qualifier
080N0ZZ: Medical and Surgical Eye Alteration Upper Eyelid, Right Open No Device No Qualifier
080N37Z: Medical and Surgical Eye Alteration Upper Eyelid, Right Percutaneous Autologous Tissue Substitute No Qualifier
080N3JZ: Medical and Surgical Eye Alteration Upper Eyelid, Right Percutaneous Synthetic Substitute No Qualifier

ICD-9 PROCEDURE CODES
• 2 digits followed by a decimal, then no, 1, or 2 digits
• Used to document procedures performed during the encounter
• Ranked in priority of significance
• Used only on UB-04 claims
• A claim may or may not have an ICD-9 procedure code

ICD-9 PROCEDURE CODES – CATEGORIES
Code Category
00 Procedures and interventions, not elsewhere classified
01-05 Operations on the nervous system
06-07 Operations on the endocrine system
08-16 Operations on the eye
17 Other miscellaneous diagnostic and therapeutic procedures1
18-20 Operations on the ear
21-29 Operations on the nose, mouth, and pharynx
30-34 Operations on the respiratory system
35-39 Operations on the cardiovascular system
40-41 Operations on the hemic and lymphatic system
42-54 Operations on the digestive system
55-59 Operations on the urinary system
60-64 Operations on the male genital organs
65-71 Operations on the female genital organs
72-75 Obstetrical procedures
76-84 Operations on the musculoskeletal system
85-86 Operations on the integumentary system
87-99 Miscellaneous diagnostic and therapeutic procedures

ICD-9 PROCEDURE CODES – EXAMPLE
08-16 Operations on the eye
08 Operations on eyelids
09 Operations on lacrimal system
10 Operations on conjunctiva
11 Operations on cornea
12 Operations on iris, ciliary body, sclera, and anterior
chamber
13 Operations on lens
14 Operations on retina, choroid, vitreous, and posterior
chamber
15 Operations on extraocular muscles
16 Operations on orbit and eyeball

(CONTINUED)
14 Operations on retina, choroid, vitreous, and posterior chamber
14.0 Removal of foreign body from posterior segment of eye
Excludes: removal of surgically implanted material (14.6)
14.00 Removal of foreign body from posterior segment of eye, not otherwise specified
14.01 Removal of foreign body from posterior segment of eye with use of magnet
14.02 Removal of foreign body from posterior segment of eye without use of magnet
14.1 Diagnostic procedures on retina, choroid, vitreous, and posterior chamber
14.11 Diagnostic aspiration of vitreous
14.19 Other diagnostic procedures on retina, choroid, vitreous, and posterior chamber
14.2 Destruction of lesion of retina and choroid
Includes: destruction of chorioretinopathy or isolated chorioretinal lesion
Excludes: that for repair of retina (14.31-14.59)
14.21 Destruction of chorioretinal lesion by diathermy
14.22 Destruction of chorioretinal lesion by cryotherapy
14.23 Destruction of chorioretinal lesion by xenon arc photocoagulation
14.24 Destruction of chorioretinal lesion by laser photocoagulation
14.25 Destruction of chorioretinal lesion by photocoagulation of unspecified type
14.26 Destruction of chorioretinal lesion by radiation therapy
14.27 Destruction of chorioretinal lesion by implantation of radiation source
14.29 Other destruction of chorioretinal lesion
Destruction of lesion of retina and choroids NOS
Coders should code to the
4th digit wherever possible
(highest level of specificity)

(CONTINUED)
14.3 Repair of retinal tear
Includes: repair of retinal defect
Excludes: repair of retinal detachment (14.41-14.59)
14.31 Repair of retinal tear by diathermy
14.32 Repair of retinal tear by cryotherapy
14.33 Repair of retinal tear by xenon arc photocoagulation
14.34 Repair of retinal tear by laser photocoagulation
14.35 Repair of retinal tear by photocoagulation of unspecified type
14.39 Other repair of retinal tear
14.4 Repair of retinal detachment with scleral buckling and implant
14.41 Scleral buckling with implant
14.49 Other scleral buckling
Scleral buckling with:
air tamponade
resection of sclera
vitrectomy
14.5 Other repair of retinal detachment
Includes: that with drainage
14.51 Repair of retinal detachment with diathermy
14.52 Repair of retinal detachment with cryotherapy
14.53 Repair of retinal detachment with xenon arc photocoagulation
14.54 Repair of retinal detachment with laser photocoagulation
14.55 Repair of retinal detachment with photocoagulation of unspecified type
14.59 Other

(CONTINUED)
14.6 Removal of surgically implanted material from posterior segment of eye
14.7 Operations on vitreous
14.71 Removal of vitreous, anterior approach
Open sky technique
Removal of vitreous, anterior approach (with replacement)
14.72 Other removal of vitreous
Aspiration of vitreous by posterior sclerotomy
14.73 Mechanical vitrectomy by anterior approach
14.74 Other mechanical vitrectomy
14.75 Injection of vitreous substitute
Excludes: that associated with removal (14.71-14.72)
14.79 Other operations on vitreous
14.8 Implantation of epiretinal visual prosthesis
14.81 Implantation of epiretinal visual prosthesis
14.82 Removal of epiretinal visual prosthesis
14.83 Revision or replacement of epiretinal visual prosthesis
14.9 Other operations on retina, choroid, and posterior chamber

BILLING FORMS THAT USE ICD-10
• Professional (CMS-1500)
• ICD-10-CM (diagnosis codes)
• Institutional (UB-04)
• ICD-10-CM (diagnosis codes)
• ICD-10-PCS (procedure codes)
• All claims, whether CMS-1500 or UB-04, must have at least one ICD-10 diagnosis
code
• On UB-04, the first diagnosis code must describe the principal reason for the care
provided
• If additional facts are required to substantiate the care provided, providers should list the
ICD-10 codes in the order of their importance

IMPLICATIONS FOR CHARGEMASTER AND
REIMBURSEMENT
• Not used by providers to set charges
• ICD-10 codes alone are not typically tied to payor fee schedules, although
(rarely) some payors used ICD-9 procedure codes to negotiate outpatient
facility reimbursement
• ICD-10 codes drive MS-DRGs, which drive inpatient reimbursement for
Medicare and many other payors

COMPARISON OF ICD-9 AND ICD-10 DIAGNOSIS
CODING
ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes
3-5 characters in length 3-7 characters in length
Approximately 13,000 codes Approximately 68,000 available codes
First digit may be alpha (E or V) or numeric; digits
2-5 are numeric
First digit is alpha; digits 2 and 3 are numeric; digits 4-7 are
alpha or numeric
Limited space for adding new codes Flexible for adding new codes
Lacks detail Very specific
Lacks laterality Allows laterality and bi-laterality
Difficult to analyze data due to non-specific codes Specifically improves coding accuracy and richness of data
for analysis
Codes are non-specific and do not adequately
define diagnoses needed for medical research
Detail improves the accuracy of data used for medical
research
Does not support interoperability Supports interoperability and the exchange of health data
between the U.S. and other countries

COMPARISON OF ICD-9 AND ICD-10 PROCEDURE
CODING
ICD-9-CM procedure codes ICD-10-CM procedure codes
3-4 numbers in length 7 alpha-numeric characters in length
Approximately 3,000 codes Approximately 72,600 available codes
Based on outdated technology Reflects current usage of medical terminology and devices
Limited space for adding new codes Flexible for adding new codes
Lacks detail Very specific
Lacks laterality Allows laterality
Generic terms for body parts Detailed descriptions for body parts
Lacks description of method and approach
for procedures
Provides detailed descriptions of method and approach for
procedures
Limits DRG assignment Allows expansion of DRG definitions to recognize new
technologies and devices
Lacks precision to adequately define
procedures
Precisely defines procedures with detail regarding body part,
approach, any device used, and qualifying information

HOW ARE ICD-9 AND ICD-10 DIFFERENT?
Diagnosis ICD-9 ICD-10
Precordial chest pain 786.51 R07.2
Asthma, acute exacerbation 493.92 J45.21 Mild, intermittent, w/ acute
exacerbation
J45.41 Moderate, persistent, w/ acute
exacerbation
V45.51 Severe, persistent, w/ acute
exacerbation
Thumb laceration, w/o nail damage, initial
encounter
883.0 S61.011A Laceration w/o FB, Rt.
S61.012A Laceration w/o FB, Lt.

WHAT ARE HCPCS CODES?
• Level I – CPT-4 (Current Procedural Terminology, 4th Edition)
• Level II – HCPCS/National codes
• (Level III – local codes – retired in 2003)

LEVEL 1 – CPT-4
• Developed and maintained by the American Medical Association (AMA)
• Five-digit codes with descriptions
• Developed in 1966
• Updated annually by the AMA
• Six major sections:
• Evaluation and management (E&M) (99201-99499)
• Anesthesiology (00100-01999)
• Surgery (10040-69990)
• Radiology (70010-79999)
• Pathology and laboratory (80048-89399)
• Medicine (90281-99199 and 99500-99999)
• Procedures are divided into subsections according to body part, service, or diagnosis

LEVEL 1I – HCPCS CODES
• HCFA developed the second level of HCPCS codes because CPT does not contain all the
codes needed to report medical services and supplies
• These codes always begin with a single letter (A through V) followed by 4 numeric digits
• Updated annually by CMS

LEVEL 1I – HCPCS CODES (CONTINUED)
Grouped by type of service or supply they represent
A codes – ambulance, transportation and supplies K codes – temporary DME codes
B codes – enteral and parenteral nutrition L codes – orthotics and prosthetics
C codes – temporary hospital codes M codes – medical services
D codes – dental P codes – pathology, laboratory and blood products
E codes – durable medical equipment (DME) Q codes – temporary procedures, services, drugs and
supplies
G codes – temporary procedures, services, drugs R codes – radiology transport
and supplies
H codes – mental health S codes – private payor and Medicaid codes
J codes – drugs T codes – Medicaid codes
Q codes – temporary procedures, services, drugs V codes – vision, audiology, and speech-language pathology
services
and supplies

CPT CODES – E&M EXAMPLE
Evaluation and management (E/M)
Office or other outpatient services
New patient
99201 Office or other outpatient visit including for the evaluation and management of a new patient, which requires these three key
components:
• a problem focused history;
• a problem focused examination; and
• straightforward medical decision making.
components:
• an expanded problem focused history;
• an expanded problem focused examination; and
• straightforward medical decision making.
components:
• a detailed history;
• a detailed examination; and
• medical decision making of low complexity.
components:
• a comprehensive history;
• a comprehensive examination; and
• medical decision making of moderate complexity.
components:
• a comprehensive history;
• a comprehensive examination; and
• medical decision making of high complexity.

CPT CODES – SURGICAL EXAMPLE
Eye and ocular adnexa
Eyeball
Removal of eye
Secondary implant(s) procedures
Removal of foreign body
65205 Removal of foreign body, external eye; conjunctival superficial
65210 conjunctival embedded (includes concretions), subconjunctival, or scleral nonperforating
65220 corneal, without slit lamp
65222 corneal, with slit lamp
65235 Removal of foreign body, intraocular; from anterior chamber or lens
65260 from posterior segment, magnetic extraction, anterior or posterior route
65265 from posterior segment, nonmagnetic extraction

LEVEL II HCPCS CODES - EXAMPLE
Dental procedures
Diagnostic
Clinical oral evaluation
Radiographs
D0210 Intraoral – complete series (including bitewings)
D0220 Intraoral – periapical – first film
D0230 Intraoral – periapical – each additional film
D0240 Intraoral – occlusal film
D0250 Extraoral – first film
D0260 Extraoral – each additional film
D0270 Bitewing – single film
D0272 Bitewings – two films
D0274 Bitewings – four films
D0290 Posterior-anterior or lateral skull and facial bone survey film
D0310 Sialography
D0320 Tempromandibular joint arthrogram, including injection
D0321 Other temporomandibular joint films, by report
D0322 Tomographic survey
D0330 Panoramic film
D0340 Cephalometric film
Test and laboratory examinations…

IMPLICATIONS FOR CHARGEMASTER AND
REIMBURSEMENT
• Most payors set physician fee schedules based on CPT and HCPCS codes
• CPT and HCPCS codes also used to reimburse most non-physician health professionals (e.g.,
optometrists, therapists, audiologists)
• CMS established Relative Value Units (RVUs) for most CPT codes; this is the basis for
Medicare payment
• Most payors have adopted RVUs as their basis for reimbursing physicians
• Many clinics have adopted RVUs as the basis for setting fees
• Many clinics use RVUs to compensate physicians within their practice
• This topic will be covered in depth in reimbursement section

MODIFIERS
• Modifiers are used to identify circumstances that alter or enhance the
description of a service or supply
• There are two levels of modifiers – one for each level of codes
• Level I (CPT) modifiers
• Level II (HCPCS/National) modifiers
• Some modifiers have an impact on reimbursement by either reducing or
increasing the allowed amount for the code that it is modifying
• Procedure codes may have multiple modifiers

LEVEL I (CPT) MODIFIERS
• Two numeric digits which are added to the five-digit CPT code
• Maintained and updated annually by the AMA
• Commonly used modifiers
• -26 professional component
• -TC technical component
• -25 separate, distinct E&M service
• -50 bilateral procedure
• -51 multiple procedures
• -80 assistant surgeon

LEVEL II HCPCS MODIFIERS
• Two alphabetic digits (AA-VP) which are added to the alpha/numeric HCPCS
code
• These are recognized by carriers nationally
• Maintained and updated annually by CMS
• Example
• E1 upper left, eyelid
• E2 lower left, eyelid
• E3 upper right, eyelid
• E4 lower right, eyelid
• Both HCPCS and CPT modifiers are used interchangeably

REVENUE CODES
• Used on UB-04
• Groups similar types of charges into one line
• Every item in a hospital chargemaster must have one revenue code
attached
• Certain revenue codes require CPT/HCPCS codes
• If a CPT/HCPCS code is available, it should be used
• Hospitals should use the highest level of specificity of revenue code
• Always four digits

REVENUE CODES - EXAMPLES
0120 Room & board/semi-private
0121 Med/Surg/Gyn/2 beds
0122 OB/2 beds
0123 Peds/2 beds
0124 Psych/2 beds
0125 Hospice/2 beds
0126 Detox/2 beds
0127 Oncology/2 beds
0128 Rehab/2 beds
0129 Other/2 beds
0400 Other imaging svc/general
0401 Diagnostic mammography
0402 Ultrasound
0403 Screening mammography
0404 PET scan
0409 Other image scan
0610 MRI – general
0611 MRI – brain
0612 MRI – spine
0614 MRI – other
0615 MRA – head and neck
0616 MRA – lower extremities
0618 MRA – other
0619 MRT – other

HOSPITAL CHARGEMASTER
• The hospital chargemaster is the hospital’s “catalog” of all services that
are provided by that hospital
• Organized by department – the following are included for each item
• Hospital’s item number (for internal use)
• Department number (determines which cost center is credited with the
revenue for that item)
• Item description – used for claim detail
• Price (charge) per unit
• Cost (sometimes – depends on hospital’s cost accounting system)
• Revenue code (always)
• HCPCS codes, if required because of that item’s revenue code

HOSPITAL CHARGEMASTER (CONTINUED)
• A typical chargemaster has thousands of items
• Some states, such as Calif., require hospitals to make their
chargemasters public
• There are many types of charge lines
• Recurring charges (room)
• Charges tied to order entry (lab, pharmacy, x-ray)
• Time-based charges (OR, anesthesia)
• Items for which the charge varies from patient to patient (implants)
• Charges which do not require HCPCS or CPT codes
• Charges for which the HCPCS or CPT code is assigned at the chargemaster level
• Charges for which the HCPCS or CPT code is assigned by HIM

SAMPLE HOSPITAL CHARGEMASTER (SELECTED
ITEMS)
Item # Description Cost
center
Rev
code
HCPCS
code
Charge Note
3112451 OR Level 1 charge for first
30 minutes
100120 0360 Assigned
by HIM
$2,500 Example of a timed charge for
OR time
5172457 Pacemaker, dual chamber,
rate responsive
100120 0275 C1785 $10,000 Example of a HCPCS code that
could be in the chargemaster
3172471 Implant spine miscellaneous 100120 0278 N/A Manual Sample of an open code, in
which supply implants are
charged and priced using the
hospital’s assigned markup
schedule
3174526 Pack, cardiovascular custom 100120 0272 $1,500 Sample line in the chargemaster
with no HCPCS code; field is left
blank
9115487 EEG during nonintracranial
surgery
100240 0740 95955 $750 Example of an outsourced
service (not part of OR) that
needs charge capture

SAMPLE HOSPITAL
ITEMIZATION & UB ROLLUP

DRGS
• The Diagnosis Related Group, or DRG, system uses ICD-10-CM diagnosis and procedure codes as well
as patient demographic information to classify each inpatient hospital admission into one of 753 clinically
cohesive groups that demonstrate similar consumption of hospital resources and length-of-stay patterns
• Has been used by Medicare since 1983 to reimburse hospitals for inpatient admissions
• Certain types of hospitals are excluded from Medicare’s DRG reimbursement system; these include
psychiatric hospitals or units, rehabilitation hospitals or units, children’s hospitals, long-term care
hospitals and cancer hospitals
• CMS administers the DRG system and issues all rules and changes
• DRGs are updated each October 1
• Base rates, wage indices, weights, and other DRG components are adjusted
• Codes are re-mapped
• New DRGs are created
• DRGs are retired

DRGS
• One problem with DRGs has been the historical inability to account for
severity differences within a DRG
• As a result, several severity-adjusted DRG systems have been
developed
• APR-DRGs (All-Patient Refined DRGs) – four severity subclasses for each DRG
• APS-DRGs (All-Payer Severity-adjusted DRGs) – measures resource intensity
• MS-DRGs (Medicare Severity DRGs) – used by CMS; three severity tiers for most
DRGs

CCS AND MCCS
• In MS-DRGs, many DRGs are split into one, two, or three related MS-
DRGs based on whether any one of the secondary diagnoses has been
categorized as an MCC, a CC, or no CC
• CMS identified those diagnoses whose presence as a secondary
diagnosis leads to substantially increased hospital use; they then
categorized this CC list into three different levels of severity
• MCCs (Major complications or comorbidities) – reflect the highest level of
severity
• CCs (Complications and comorbidities) – represent the next level of severity
• Non-CCs – lowest level of severity; diagnosis codes that do not significantly
affect severity of illness and resource use and do not affect DRG
assignment

MS-DRGS
• Current MS-DRG system is version 32, used for fiscal year 2015
• Many payors have adopted MS-DRGs for reimbursement
• Successful MS-DRG coding requires physicians and medical staff to
provide complete and detailed documentation, and health information
management (medical records) staff to fully understand the medical
conditions for which they are responsible
• Key to accurate coding (and therefore to maximizing reimbursement) is
assignment of secondary diagnosis codes

USES FOR MS-DRGS
• Reimbursement
• Evaluation of quality of care: since all cases in an MS-DRG are clinically similar,
analysis of treatment protocols, related conditions or demographic distribution can be
done
• clinical best-practice models can be designed around MS-DRGs
• benchmarking and outcome analysis can be conducted using the MS-DRG clinical
framework
• quality reviews can be performed to assess coding practices and physician documentation
• ongoing education of physicians, coders, nurses and utilization review personnel can be
guided by the results of MS-DRG analyses
• Evaluation of utilization of services: each MS-DRG represents the average resources
needed to treat patients grouped to that MS-DRG relative to the national average of
resources used to treat all Medicare patients

MS-DRG ASSIGNMENT
• MS-DRGs are assigned using the following considerations
• The principal ICD-10 diagnosis code
• Secondary ICD-10 diagnosis codes
• The principal ICD-10 procedure code (when applicable)
• Secondary ICD-10 procedure codes (when applicable)
• Gender
• Discharge status
• Presence or absence of MCCs/CCs
• Birth weight for neonates
• One MS-DRG is assigned to each inpatient stay

MS-DRG ASSIGNMENT (CONTINUED)
• Health information management coders review the patient’s chart upon
discharge and assign the ICD-10 codes which determine MS-DRG
• Grouper software calculates the MS-DRG based on the above
considerations; grouper software is usually updated annually
• Sometimes there are discrepancies between a hospital’s resultant MS-
DRG and the MS-DRG calculated by a payor due to the use of different
grouper versions

MS-DRG ORGANIZATION
• There are 25 major diagnostic categories (MDCs), which are each
organized into two sections:
• Surgical – this section classifies all surgical conditions based upon
operating room procedures
• Medical – this section classifies all diagnostic conditions based upon
diagnosis codes
• MDCs are mutually exclusive and in general are organized by major
body system and/or associated with a particular medical specialty

MDCS
01 Diseases and disorders of the nervous system
02 Diseases and disorders of the eye
03 Diseases and disorders of the ear, nose, mouth and throat
04 Diseases and disorders of the respiratory system
05 Diseases and disorders of the circulatory system
06 Diseases and disorders of the digestive system
07 Diseases and disorders of the hepatobiliary system and pancreas
08 Diseases and disorders of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue
09 Diseases and disorders of the skin, subcutaneous tissue and breast
10 Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases and disorders
11 Diseases and disorders of the kidney and urinary tract
12 Diseases and disorders of the male reproductive system
13 Diseases and disorders of the female reproductive system
14 Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium
15 Newborns and other neonates with conditions originating in the perinatal period
16 Diseases and disorders of the blood, blood forming organs and immunological disorders
17 Myeloproliferative diseases and disorders, poorly differentiated neoplasm
18 Infectious and parasitic diseases, systemic or unspecified sites
19 Mental diseases and disorders
20 Alcohol/drug use and alcohol/drug induced organic mental disorders
21 Injuries, poisonings and toxic effects of drugs
22 Burns
23 Factors influencing health status and other contacts with health services
24 Multiple significant trauma
25 Human immunodeficiency virus infections

MS-DRG EXAMPLE
MDC 02 Diseases and disorders of the eye
Surgical MS-DRGs
MS- DRG 113 Orbital procedures w CC/MCC
Relative weight: 1.8611
Geometric Mean LOS: 3.7
Arithmetic Mean LOS: 5.1
Operating room procedures:
14.21 14.22 14.26 14.27 14.29
14.31 14.32 14.39 14.41 14.49
14.51 14.52 14.53 14.54 14.55
14.59 14.9
National unadjusted payment $10,916.24
MS-DRG 114 Orbital procedures w/o CC/MCC
MS-DRG 115 Extraocular procedures except orbit
MS-DRG 116 Intraocular procedures w CC/MCC
MS-DRG 117 Intraocular procedures w/o CC/MCC

MS-DRG EXAMPLE (CONTINUED)
MDC 02 Diseases and disorders of the eye
Medical MS-DRGs
MS-DRG 121 Acute major eye infections w CC/MCC
Relative weight: 1.0635
Geometric Mean LOS: 3.9
Arithmetic Mean LOS: 5.0
Principal diagnosis
360.00 360.01 360.02 360.04
360.13 360.19 370.00 370.03
370.04 370.05 370.06 370.55
375.01 375.31 375.32 376.01
376.02 376.03 376.04
National unadjusted payment $6,237.94
MS-DRG 122 Acute major eye infections w/o CC/MCC
MS-DRG 123 Neurological eye disorders
MS-DRG 124 Other disorders of the eye w MCC
MS-DRG 125 Other disorders of the eye w/o MCC

SAMPLE
MS-DRG WEIGHTS
MS-
DRG
Description
Relative
weight
National
unadjusted
payment
232 Coronary bypass w PTCA w/o MCC 5.5976 $32,833
662 Minor bladder procedures w MCC 3.0042 $17,621
663 Minor bladder procedures w CC 1.5285 $8,965
664 Minor bladder procedures w/o CC/MCC 1.2406 $7,277
766 Cesarean section w/o CC/MCC 0.7562 $4,435
775 Vaginal delivery w/o complicating
diagnosis
0.5643 $3,310
795 Normal newborn 0.1724 $1,011
007 Lung transplant 9.2986 $54,541
468 Revision of hip or knee replacement w/o
CC/MCC
2.7652 $16,219

MS-DRGS AS BENCHMARKING
• Hospital casemix index is calculated as total weights / number
of admissions
• MS-DRGs can be used for
• Comparing average charges across hospitals – regardless of size
• Reimbursement across payors – regardless of payment method
• Resource utilization and cost across hospitals
• Identifying types of services provided by a hospital

APCS
• The Ambulatory Payment Classification, or APC, system uses CPT and HCPCS codes to
classify outpatient hospital admissions clinically cohesive groups that demonstrate similar
consumption of hospital resources
• Has been used by Medicare since 2000 to reimburse hospitals for certain outpatient services
• Certain types of hospitals are excluded from Medicare’s APC reimbursement system; these
include Maryland hospitals (for certain services), critical access hospitals, hospitals located
outside of the 50 US states, and Indian Health Service hospitals
• CMS administers the APC system and issues all rules and changes
• APCs are updated each year
• Base rates, wage indices, weights, and other APC components are adjusted
• Codes are re-mapped
• New APCs are created
• APCs are retired

FEATURES OF APCS
• Approximately 700 procedural APCs and 350 drug APCs
• Like DRGs, each APC reflects procedures that are comparable both clinically and in resource use
• Reimbursement by Medicare is at lesser of billed charges or the APC fee schedule amount, adjusted for geographic
differences
• Procedure-based APC groups are assigned a relative weight
• Relative weight is based on median cost (operating and capital) for the grouped services
• Weights are converted to payment rates using conversion factors
• Assignment of APC code is driven by CPT and HCPCS codes
• Patient can have multiple APCs on one claim, although multiple surgeries are paid the full APC amount for the
highest APC, and all others are paid at 50% of the APC rate
• Status indicators tell why there is no payment for a HCPCS code; for example, the code may be paid under a lab fee
schedule, or the code may be considered to be bundled as part of a procedure and therefore not separately payable

APCS - EXAMPLE
0130 – Level I Laparoscopy
RW 40.6743
Payment rate (national) $3,016.93
Includes these CPTs:
38129 Laparoscopic procedures, spleen
38589 Laparoscopic procedures, lymphatic system
43289 Laparoscopic procedures, esophagus
43648 Lap revise/remove eltrd antrum
43659 Laparoscopic procedures, stomach
44238 Laparoscopic procedures, intestine
44979 Laparoscopic procedures, appendectomy
45499 Laparoscopic procedures, rectum
47379 Laparoscopic procedures, liver
47560 Laparoscopy with cholangiogram
47561 Laparoscopy with cholangiogram and biopsy
47579 Laparoscopic procedures, biliary
49320 Laparoscopy, diagnostic biopsy separate procedure
49321 Laparoscopy, biopsy
49322 Laparoscopy, aspiration
49323 Laparoscopic drainage of lymphocele

APCS – EXAMPLE (CONTINUED)
0130 – Level I Laparoscopy
Includes these CPTs (list continued from previous slide):
49324 Laparoscopic insertion of permanent IP catheter
49325 Laparoscopic revision of permanent IP catheter
49329 Laparoscopic procedure, abdomen/per/oment
49659 Laparoscopic hernia repair
50541 Laparoscopic procedures, ablate renal cyst
50549 Laparoscopic procedures, renal
50949 Laparoscopic procedures, ureter
51999 Laparoscopic procedures, bladder
54699 Laparoscopy procedures, testis
55559 Laparoscopy procedures, spermatic cord
58545 Laparoscopic myomectomy
58578 Laparoscopic procedures, uterus
58679 Laparoscopic procedures, oviduct-ovary
59898 Laparoscopic procedures, OB care/ delivery
60659 Laparoscopy procedures, endocrine

APCS – EXAMPLE (CONTINUED)
0131 – Level II Laparoscopy
RW 50.9538
0132 – Level III Laparoscopy
RW 73.8696

CLAIM FORM TYPES
• Providers other than pharmacies use one of the following two claim forms:
• CMS-1500 – professional claim form – used by physicians, therapists, and other professionals
• UB-04 – institutional claim form – used by facilities including hospitals, surgery centers, skilled
nursing facilities, home health agencies, some transportation providers, etc.

SAMPLE PROFESSIONAL
CLAIM FORM (CMS-1500)

SAMPLE PHYSICIAN CHARGEMASTER (SELECTED
CODES)
CPT code Description Charge
81005 Urinalysis $8.00
82310 Calcium test; total $13.00
90707 Measles, mumps, rubella vaccine $104.00

FACILITY CLAIM FORM: UB-04
• The Uniform Bill 2004 (UB-04) is also known as the HCFA-1450 and replaced the UB-92 in
2005
• The UB-04 is used for both inpatient and outpatient facility services
• The National Uniform Billing Committee (NUBC) establishes and maintains a complete list of
the allowable data elements and codes used on the UB-04 claim
• The UB-04 contains 81 form locators (FLs)
• A FL is a data field
• Some FLs must be completed, some are used only when applicable to specific claims,
and others are reserved for future use
• The UB-04 has 22 service lines on a single form
• The UB-04, when submitted electronically, can accept 450 service lines

HOSPITAL CODING
• Health information management (HIM, formerly known as the medical
records department) staff review records after patient is discharged and
assign these codes to the entire encounter:
• ICD-10 diagnosis codes
• ICD-10 procedure codes
• CPT codes for surgeries, interventional procedures
• Other procedure codes reside in the chargemaster and are
automatically brought forward to the claim

PART 3: PHYSICIAN AND
HOSPITAL REIMBURSEMENT

TOPICS COVERED IN THIS SECTION
• Hospital reimbursement models
• Physician reimbursement models
• Provider/plan contracting issues

HOSPITAL REIMBURSEMENT – OVERVIEW
• Hospitals charge the same amount per service to all patients regardless of
payor source
• Each payor utilizes its own method for reimbursing the hospital
• Hospitals write off the difference between charges and reimbursement as
“discount”
• Some hospitals’ aggregate discounts are 70+% of charges, meaning they
collect only 30% of gross revenue; the remainder is discount
• Payment can be greater than billed charges, depending on the contract terms
• Self-pay patients and patients with no coverage are expected to pay full billed
charges, less any charity discount

INPATIENT VERSUS OUTPATIENT STATUS
• Inpatient versus outpatient: the admitting physician must admit
patients specifically to “inpatient” status
• Patients must meet admission criteria (intensity of service and
severity of illness)
• If patient does not meet inpatient criteria and if physician has not
ordered inpatient services, then the patient’s status is outpatient
• Services may be similar between inpatient and outpatient but
reimbursement can be dramatically different

COMMON INPATIENT REIMBURSEMENT METHODS
• DRG (Diagnosis Related Groups)
• MS-DRGs (Medicare Severity DRGs)
• Per case
• Per diem
• Percent discount
• Carve outs
• Outlier provisions

INPATIENT: DRG
• DRG = Diagnosis Related Groups
• Medicare transitioned to MS-DRGs (Medicare Severity DRGs) in 2008
• Health information management (medical records) staff assign ICD-10 diagnosis and procedure codes
to the entire encounter after patient is discharged
• DRGs are a derivation of ICD-10 diagnosis and procedure codes, as well as other demographic
information
• Each admission has only one DRG
• Each DRG has a relative weight, which is updated annually by CMS
• Hospital and payor agree on a base rate (“weight of 1.00” amount or “conversion factor”), which is
multiplied by each admission’s DRG weight to determine reimbursement
• Charges don’t matter, other than for outlier threshold determination
• Length of stay doesn’t matter, other than for outlier threshold determination

INPATIENT: DRG
Commercial payors negotiate the following with the hospital
• DRG weight of 1.00 payment rate (eg, conversion factor)
• DRG grouper version
• Outlier provision
• typically, payment is percent discount on the entire admission once a charge or length of stay threshold is met
• DRG weight of one payment method no longer applies
• Carve outs; separate, additional payment for high-cost drugs and devices (typically percent discount on the carve out items)
• Implants and devices
• High-cost drugs
• Separate reimbursement methods (typically per diem or percent discount) for non-typical, high-cost, variable length-of-stay
admission types:
• Inpatient rehab
• Neonatal intensive care, levels II, III, IV
• Mental health
• Chemical dependency

INPATIENT: MS-DRG
• In MS-DRGs, many DRGs are split into one, two, or three related MS-DRGs
based on whether any one of the secondary diagnoses has been categorized
as an MCC, a CC, or no CC
• CMS identified those diagnoses whose presence as a secondary diagnosis
leads to substantially increased hospital use; they then categorized this CC
list into three different levels of severity
• MCCs (Major complications or comorbidities) – reflect the highest level of severity
• CCs (Complications and comorbidities) – represent the next level of
severity
• Non-CCs – lowest level of severity; diagnosis codes that do not significantly
affect severity of illness and resource use and do not affect DRG
assignment

INPATIENT: SAMPLE MS-DRG REIMBURSEMENT
MS-
DRG
Description Relative
weight
National
unadjusted
payment
662 Minor bladder procedures w MCC 3.0042 $17,621
663 Minor bladder procedures w CC 1.5285 $8,965
664 Minor bladder procedures w/o
CC/MCC
1.2406 $7,277
466 Revision of hip or knee replacement
w MCC
5.1513 $30,215
w CC
3.4231 $20,078
w/o CC/MCC
2.7652 $16,219

INPATIENT: PER STAY
• Per stay (also known as per admission rate)
• Fixed rate for entire admission
• Can be organized into categories such as OB, medical, surgical with
different rates for each category
• Charges and length of stay don’t matter, other than for outlier threshold
determination
• Often there is no “lesser of” language, so the hospital is paid the per stay
rate regardless of charges

INPATIENT: PER STAY
• What is negotiated
• Categories and definitions; varies from hospital to hospital and plan to plan, but typical categories and
definitions include:
• Medical (defined as DRG type or bed type revenue code)
• Surgical (defined as DRG type or presence of surgical revenue code or bed type revenue code)
• OB (DRG – can be split into vaginal and C-section)
• Normal newborn (DRG or revenue code; often paid at $0 if OB rate is intended to cover both mom and baby)
• Cardiac (DRG or ICD-10 – can be split into bypass, PTCA, other categories)
• Rates for each category
• Alternatively, can have additional per diem included with per stay amount, beginning on threshold day through
day of discharge
• Per stay payment method no longer applies

INPATIENT: PER STAY
• What is negotiated (continued)
• Carve outs; separate, additional payment for high-cost drugs and devices (typically percent discount on
the carve out items)
• High-cost drugs
• Separate reimbursement methods (typically per diem or percent discount) for non-typical, high-cost,
variable length-of-stay admission types:
• Inpatient rehab
• Neonatal intensive care, levels II, III, IV
• Mental health
• Chemical dependency

INPATIENT: PER DIEM
• Fixed payment per day of hospital service
• Can be organized into categories such as OB, medical, surgical with different
rates for each category
• Charges and length of stay don’t matter, other than for outlier threshold
determination
• Often there is no “lesser of” language, so the hospital is paid the per stay rate
regardless of charges

INPATIENT: PER DIEM
WHAT IS NEGOTIATED
• Categories and definitions; varies from hospital to hospital and plan to plan, but typical categories and
definitions include
• Medical (defined as DRG type or bed type revenue code)
• Surgical (defined as DRG type or presence of surgical revenue code or bed type revenue code)
• OB (DRG – can be split into vaginal and C-section)
• Normal newborn (DRG or revenue code; often paid at $0 if OB rate is intended to cover both mom and baby)
• ICU / CCU (defined as bed type revenue code)
• Pediatrics (defined as bed type revenue code)
• Rehab per diem (DRG or revenue code)
• NICU per diems – levels II, III, IV (revenue code)
• Mental health per diems (DRG or revenue code – can be split into psych, chemical dependency)
• Rates for each category
• Per diem payment method no longer applies
• Carve outs; separate, additional payment for high-cost drugs and devices (typically percent discount on the
carve out items)
• High-cost drugs

INPATIENT: PERCENT OF CHARGES
• Payment based on flat discount from billed charges
• What is negotiated
• Discount rate
• Categories of service, if different rates apply to various service lines
• Typically used for PPOs
• Often used by rural hospitals and by national health plans that don’t have a
lot of business with a hospital

INPATIENT: OTHER METHODS
• Min/max contracts with per diems, per stay, or DRG weight of one
• typically for PPOs
• rates are negotiated, then a corridor is set up to guarantee the PPO a discount (so a payor never pays more
than billed charges) but also so the hospital never gets hit with a deep discount on any given admission
• typical min/
• Surgical case add-on
• Fixed amount per surgical admission paid in addition to med/surg per diem
• Can mix and match reimbursement methods within a contract
• Example A:
• Per diems for medical, surgical, pediatrics, ICU/CCU
• Per stay for vaginal delivery, C-section
• Example B:
• DRG weight of one for medical, surgical
• Per case rate for vaginal delivery, C-section, normal newborn
• Per diem for NICU, rehab, mental health

HOSPITAL FINANCIAL INCENTIVES BASED ON
REIMBURSEMENT METHOD
Reimbursement type Economic incentive Other issues
Charges, % of charges Do as much as you can, keep
patient as long as you can
Raise charges as high as you can
Per diem Keep patient as long as you can
but do as little for them as you can
Charges don’t matter
DRG Admit and then discharge patient
as quickly as possible, do as little
for them as possible
Charges don’t matter, but must
have accurate coding to get to the
highest DRG
Per stay Admit and then discharge patient
as quickly as possible, do as little
for them as possible
Charges don’t matter, coding
doesn’t matter

VARIATION IN PAY TYPE AND AMOUNT BY
PAYOR - EXAMPLE
Inpatient, 3 day stay, 3-vessel cardiac bypass, total charges = $40,000
Payor Pay Method Allowed Discount
Medicare MS-DRG $18,000 $22,000
Medicaid DRG $15,000 $25,000
HMO 1 Per diem $8,000 $32,000
HMO 2 Cardiac case
rate
$25,000 $15,000
PPO 1 Percent
discount
$32,000 $8,000
Self pay Charges $40,000 $0

COMMON HOSPITAL PAYMENT METHODS –
OUTPATIENT
• Historically, most outpatient services were paid at a percent of charges
• Many rural hospitals are still paid at >90% of charges by HMOs and PPOs
for outpatient services
• Outpatient is much more difficult to set up on per visit rates due to the large
variability in types of services, although some plans use APCs to establish
fixed outpatient rates

COMMON HOSPITAL PAYMENT METHODS –
OUTPATIENT
• Typical categories include
• ER (defined by rev code, CPT, or APC)
• CT (rev code, CPT, ICD-10 procedure code or APC)
• MRI (rev code, CPT, ICD-10 procedure code or APC)
• Outpatient surgery (CPT, old Medicare ASC grouper, APC)
• Therapies (rev code, CPT, APC)
• Default % of charges for all else

MEDICARE HOSPITAL PAYMENT METHODS –
OUTPATIENT
• Medicare reimburses hospitals based on several methods
• Fee schedules
• Outpatient lab
• Ambulance
• Physical, speech, occupational therapy
• Screening and diagnostic mammography
• Dialysis composite rate
• End stage renal disease dialysis, drugs, supplies
• APCs (Ambulatory Payment Classification)
• Surgery
• Radiology
• Clinic services (provided within the hospital)
• Emergency services
• Cancer chemotherapy administration and drugs
• Most all other outpatient services

APC REIMBURSEMENT
• Reimbursement by Medicare is at lesser of billed charges or the APC fee schedule amount,
adjusted for geographic differences
• Procedure-based APC groups are assigned a relative weight
• Relative weight is based on median cost (operating and capital) for the grouped services
• Weights are converted to payment rates using conversion factors
• Assignment of APC code is driven by CPT and HCPCS codes
• Patient can have multiple APCs on one claim, although multiple surgeries are paid the full APC
amount for the highest APC, and all others are paid at 50% of the APC rate
• Status indicators tell why there is no payment for a HCPCS code; for example, the code may be
paid under a lab fee schedule, or the code may be considered to be bundled as part of a
procedure and therefore not payable separately

HOSPITAL CONTRACTING ISSUES
• Most hospitals want payments that are at least equal to their Medicare payment; often they want
HMO payment to be at least 10-30% higher, and PPO payment to be 20-50% higher
• 2015 national Medicare DRG weight of one is $5,865 (which is then adjusted for geography,
also add-ons for teaching hospitals and hospitals that serve a large number of insured patients);
2007 rate was $4,869
• Hospitals talk with payors about “cost-shifting” – the idea that commercial payors must pay for
the losses that hospitals incur in Medicare and Medicaid business; most hospitals’ revenue mix
is 30-40% Medicare and Medicaid
• A good benchmark for health plans to use in calculating hospital reimbursement is the hospital’s
cost to charge ratio – this comes from the Medicare cost report which “steps down” all allowable
hospital costs to revenue centers
• Hospitals may be more willing to give deeper discounts (lower rates) to a health plan if they are
granted exclusivity in a market

HOSPITAL CONTRACTING ISSUES (CONTINUED)
• Term of hospital contracts varies by payor and hospital
• National PPO contracts may be evergreen (in effect until terminated) or have auto-renew provisions
• HMO and PPO agreements typically have 1, 2 or 3 year terms with provisions for rate increases in
years 2 and 3
• Rural hospital contracts are typically evergreen or have auto-renew provisions
• Most hospital contracts are silent regarding excessive charges
• This is an issue for payors using % of charge payment methods
• Smart contractors should limit charges to an external benchmark; this is rarely done

INCOME STATEMENT:
ABBOTT-NORTHWESTERN HOSPITAL,
MINNEAPOLIS 2013 2012 2011 2010
Inpatient Revenue $1,806,314,759 $1,896,682,509 $1,925,319,946 $1,826,334,967
Outpat Revenue $922,863,614 $881,638,457 $847,356,491 $819,803,660
Total Pt Revenue $2,729,178,373 $2,778,320,966 $2,772,676,437 $2,476,963,490
Discounts $1,739,980,629 $1,831,279,355 $1,853,341,397 $1,755,218,915
Net Pt Revenue $989,197,744 $947,041,611 $919,335,040 $890,919,712
Tot Operating Exp $1,075,946,706 $1,024,537,458 $976,757,925 $928,294,135
Operating Income/
(Loss)
($86,748,962) ($77,495,847) ($57,422,885) ($37,374,423)
Tot Non-Pt Rev $141,894,209 $118,284,383 $90,772,217 $86,738,854
Tot Other Expense ($8,112) $0 $0 $0
Net Income / (Loss) $55,153,359 $40,788,536 $33,349,332 $49,364,431
Discount % 63.8% 65.9% 66.8% 70.9%

INCOME STATEMENT:
SCRIPPS MERCY HOSPITAL, SAN DIEGO
2013 2012 2011 2010
Outpat Revenue $597,048,601 $567,175,150 $486,790,449 $437,062,591
Total Pt Revenue $2,794,569,025 $2,587,014,689 $2,358,199,848 $2,067,850,748
Discounts $2,094,357,157 $1,856,796,227 $1,730,570,902 $1,507,492,983
Net Pt Revenue $700,211,868 $730,218,462 $627,628,946 $560,357,765
Tot Operating Exp $686,640,363 $677,408,011 $602,657,046 $567,615,147
Operating Income/
(Loss)
$13,571,505 $52,810,451 $24,971,900 ($7,257,382)
Tot Non-Pt Rev $27,551,821 $16,549,107 $17,768,199 $17,572,853
Tot Other Expense $0 $0 $0 $0
Net Income / (Loss) $41,123,326 $69,359,558 $42,740,099 $10,165,236
Discount % 74.9% 71.8% 73.4% 72.9%

INCOME STATEMENT: MEMORIAL SLOAN-
KETTERING CANCER CENTER, NEW YORK
2013 2012 2011 2010
Outpat Revenue $2,569,790,903 $2,271,652,490 $2,105,758,843 $1,804,360,306
Total Pt Revenue $4,046,689,529 $3,756,182,004 $3,474,468,277 $3,068,101,024
Discounts $2,167,809,498 $2,011,343,383 $1,770,663,877 $1,614,617,787
Net Pt Revenue $1,878,880,031 $1,744,838,621 $1,703,804,400 $1,453,483,237
Tot Operating Exp $2,263,848,401 $2,156,503,534 $1,996,280,796 $1,836,696,782
Operating Income/
(Loss)
($384,968,370) ($411,664,913) ($292,476,396) ($383,215,545)
Tot Non-Pt Rev $568,898,788 $528,198,245 $498,618,281 $467,034,573
Tot Other Expense ($166,258,582) $17,578,332 $44,600,933 $28,638,564
Net Income / (Loss) $350,189,000 $98,955,000 $161,540,952 $55,182,464
Discount % 53.6% 53.5% 51.0% 52.6%

HOSPITAL COST TO CHARGE RATIOS
Hospital 2013 2012 2011 2010
Abbott-
Northwestern
39.4% 36.9% 35.2% 35.1%
Scripps Mercy 24.6% 26.1% 25.6% 27.5%
Memorial
Sloan-
Kettering
55.9% 57.4% 57.5% 59.9%

HOSPITAL WEIGHT OF ONE
Hospital Charges per
1.00
Cost per 1.00 Medicare
allowed per
1.00
Medicare
gain / (loss)
per 1.00
Abbott-
Northwestern
$28,257 $8,356 $7,410 ($946)
Scripps Mercy $50,256 $9,479 $9,145 ($334)
Memorial
Sloan-
Kettering
$37,142 $14,542 $12,101 ($2,441)

PHYSICIAN REIMBURSEMENT
• Like hospitals, physicians typically charge the same amount to all patients for the same CPT
code regardless of payor
• Physicians write off the difference between billed charges and allowed amount as discount
• Most payors pay according to “lesser of” logic, meaning they pay the lesser of billed charges or
the fee maximum in effect for that CPT code
• Reimbursement is made per CPT and HCPCS code

PHYSICIAN REIMBURSEMENT METHODS
• Fee schedule
• Most payor fee schedules are based on CPT and HCPCS Level II codes
• Most payors use Resource-Based Relative Value System (RBRVS) to help them develop their fee
schedules
• Fee schedules are typically “fee maximums;” for each code subject to the fee schedule, the payor
reimburses the provider the lesser of provider’s billed charges or the fee maximum listed in the fee
schedule
• Number of fee schedules in use varies by plan; some plans have a single fee schedule, others have
hundreds of fee schedules
• Percent of charges
• Typically used for CPTs and HCPCS codes that have no relative value
• Sometimes payors will agree to reimburse “must-have” clinics on a percent of charge basis; not
common

PHYSICIAN REIMBURSEMENT METHODS
• Capitation
• Not widely used
• Capitation = monthly payment to a group of providers for each member assigned to that group of
providers
• Covers a defined set of services; no additional reimbursement to clinic if they provide services that are
covered under capitation
• Typically used only for HMOs (not PPOS), since the insurer is bearing risk
• Not typically used by self-funded plan sponsors
• Need to have members designate a primary care clinic or care system for capitation to work
• Referrals are typically tightly managed in a capitated model

PHYSICIAN CONTRACTING
• Unless the physician group is large enough to negotiate terms with the payor, most payors do
not negotiate with providers
• Fee schedule is generally “take it or leave it”
• Rates are not specified in the contract
• Payor may update the fee schedule at any time without notifying provider
• Necessary because most payors contract with thousands of providers; it would be impossible to
manage so many unique fee schedules
• Most physician agreements are either evergreen or auto renew for consecutive terms
• Some payors maintain a small number of fee schedules, others have hundreds of fee schedules
• Depends on market strength of payor and their ability to get physicians to sign with them

SAMPLE PHYSICIAN CONTRACT
Typical payment language in payor/ physician contracts:
Pursuant to the terms of the applicable Plan, Payor or its agent and the Eligible Person shall pay to
Participating Provider the lesser of Participating Provider's charges customarily billed to other
patients or the amounts set forth in the applicable Fee Schedule as full payment of any claim
submitted by Participating Provider for Covered Services furnished to Eligible Persons pursuant to
such Plan.
The schedule of maximum reimbursement amounts pursuant to which Payors shall pay
Participating Providers to provide Medically Appropriate Covered Services shall be the lesser of
the following:
• the then current Fee Schedule of CHN, samples of which may be provided from time to time or
supplied upon request from Provider;
• any applicable state, federal or other mandated fee schedule; or
• the actual fees or charges of Provider.

VARIATION IN PAY TYPE AND AMOUNT BY PAYOR -
EXAMPLE
Office visit, established patient, level 3 (99213)
Charges = $125
Payor Pay Method Allowed Discount
Medicare RBRVS $75.00 $50.00
Medicaid Fee
schedule
$40.00 $85.00
HMO 1 Fee
schedule,
fee max $80
$80.00 $45.00
HMO 2 Fee
schedule,
fee max
$110
$110.00 $15.00
PPO 1 Fee
schedule,
fee max
$140
$125.00 $0.00

NEW REIMBURSEMENT METHODS
• Payors are developing many new reimbursement methods that are not solely
fee-for-service based
• New reimbursement models are focused on rewarding physicians and hospitals
for “good” outcomes and the achievement of quality and cost goals
• Historically payors sometimes offered quality bonuses if providers met certain
goals, such as A1C testing, immunization rates, limited use of high-tech
imaging services, etc.
• New methods include shared risk through the use of Accountable Care
Organizations, “pay for performance,” and penalties for adverse outcomes

NEW CMS REIMBURSEMENT METHODS
• CMS has begun to transform itself from a passive payer of services into an active purchaser of
higher quality, affordable care
• The overarching goal is to foster joint clinical and financial accountability in the healthcare
system
• CMS has launched and is exploring many new reimbursement models such as:
• Voluntary “pay for performance program,” named the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS)
which provides for bonus payments to physicians for achieving quality goals
• “Meaningful Use”, which means providers can receive bonus payments if they can demonstrate that
they are using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology in ways that can be measured
significantly in quality and in quantity
• New reimbursement models for patients with dual (Medicare and Medicaid) membership such as
capitation and managed fee-for-service

CMS VALUE-BASED PURCHASING GOALS
Value-Based Purchasing – appropriate incentives encouraging all healthcare providers to deliver higher quality
care at lower total costs; goals include:
• Financial Viability—where the financial viability of the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program is protected
for beneficiaries and taxpayers.
• Payment Incentives—where Medicare payments are linked to the value (quality and efficiency) of care
provided.
• Joint Accountability—where physicians and providers have joint clinical and financial accountability for
healthcare in their communities.
• Effectiveness—where care is evidence-based and outcomes-driven to better manage diseases and prevent
complications from them.
• Ensuring Access—where a restructured Medicare fee-for-service payment system provides equal access to
high quality, affordable care.
• Safety and Transparency—where a value based payment system gives beneficiaries information on the quality,
cost, and safety of their healthcare.
• Smooth Transitions—where payment systems support well coordinated care across different providers and
settings.
• Electronic Health Records—where value driven healthcare supports the use of information technology to give
providers the ability to deliver high quality, efficient, well coordinated care.

MEDICARE PAYMENT REFORM
Congress passed the Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) in
2015
• Stabilized Medicare physician pay through the repeal of the sustainable growth
rate formula
• Under the proposed rule, physicians can choose between two different
pathways of payment models
• Alternative payment models – voluntary; physicians enrolling in these alternative
payment and delivery models are exempt from MIPS
• Merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) – modified fee-for-service model
which consolidates former reporting programs to provide greater flexibility
• CMS issued proposed rules on April 27, 2016; comments are due by June 27,
2016

RESOURCE-BASED RELATIVE VALUE SYSTEM
• Medicare RBRVS was developed through the 1980s and implementation began in 1992 as a
5-year phase-in from UCR (lower of usual, customary, or reasonable charges)
• Result of the phase-in is that reimbursement for cognitive and E/M services was increased, but
procedural reimbursement was decreased
• This meant an increase in reimbursement to primary care physicians and a decrease in
reimbursement to specialists
• Now there is one fee schedule for all physician services based on CPT code – the same
reimbursement applies regardless of the physician’s specialty – only difference is geographic
adjustments

COMPONENTS OF RBRVS
• Physician work
• Time, mental effort, skill of physician
• 55% of the total physician cost
• Practice expense
• Staff costs, rent, utilities, supplies, etc.
• Professional liability insurance (PLI) expense
• Malpractice insurance

PHYSICIAN WORK – COMPRISED OF:
• Time required to perform the service
• Technical skill and physical effort
• Mental effort and judgment
• Psychological stress associated with the physician’s concern about iatrogenic risk to the
patient
• Total physician work = “intraservice work” and “preservice and postservice work”
• Intraservice work
• For office visits = the patient encounter time
• For hospital visits = time spent on the patient’s floor
• For surgical procedures = the period from the initial incision to the closure of the incision

PHYSICIAN WORK – COMPRISED OF:
(CONTINUED)
• Total physician work = “intraservice work” and “preservice and postservice work” (continued
from previous slide)
• Preservice and postservice work
• Work prior to and following provision of a service
• Surgical preparation time
• Writing or reviewing records
• Discussion with other physicians
• For surgical procedures, the total work period is the same as the global surgical period, including
recovery room time, normal postoperative hospital care, and office visits after discharge, as well as
preoperative and intraoperative work
• Each year the AMA/Specialty RVS Update Committee (RUC) submits recommendations to
CMS for physician work relative values based on CPT coding changes to be included in the
Medicare payment schedule
• Each year CMS has relied heavily on these recommendations when establishing interim
values for new and revised CPT codes

PRACTICE EXPENSE
• Comprised of practice overhead: expenses such as rent, utilities, staff, supplies, billing system
costs, etc.
• Procedures which can be performed in a physician’s office as well as in a hospital have two
practice expense relative values:
• Facility practice expense relative values – includes
• Physician offices
• Freestanding imaging centers
• Independent pathology labs
• Non-facility practice expense relative values – includes
• Hospitals
• Ambulatory surgery centers
• Skilled nursing facilities
• Partial hospitals
• All other non-facility sites

PRACTICE EXPENSE (CONTINUED)
• Procedures which can be performed in a physician’s office as well as in a hospital have two
practice expense relative values (continued):
• Non-facility practice expense weights are lower than facility practice expense weights because there
will be a separate claim from the facility;
• Total claims per service for “facility” procedures = 1
• Total claims per service for “non-facility” procedures = 2
• Sample practice expense weight for facility and non-facility
Non-facility Facility
Incision of breast lesion (19020) 8.85 4.30
Repair superficial wounds (12001) 1.51 0.37
Drainage of tonsil abscess (42700) 3.84 2.27

PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY INSURANCE (PLI)
COMPONENT
• Includes cost of professional liability insurance (malpractice insurance)
• Based on the risk factors associated with each CPT code
• Independent of the physician’s specialty

TOTAL RVU
• Total Relative Value Units = sum of work, practice expense, and PLI

EXAMPLE RVU WEIGHTS
99201, new patient E/M, level 1 1.23
99211, established patient E/M, level 1 0.56
12002, repair superficial wound(s) 3.09
21340, treatment of nose fracture 22.95
33513, CABG, vein-4 72.27
71010, chest x-ray 0.63
71010-26, chest x-ray prof component 0.26
71010-TC, chest x-ray technical component 0.37

GEOGRAPHIC PRACTICE COST INDICES (GPCIS)
• GPCIs are used to account for regional differences in physician costs – are used to adjust Medicare
payment upward for high-cost regions and downward for low-cost regions
• GPCIs updated every 3 years (at a minimum)
• Includes these factors:
• Cost of living
• Proxy data sources are used to measure physician income
• Measures geographic differences in the earnings of all college-educated workers based on census data
• Practice expense
• Reflects differences in physicians’ office rents and employee wages
• Designed to measure geographic variation in the unit costs per square foot (e.g., rent) and cost per hour
(e.g., staff salary) that the physician faces
• Reflects only the differences in practice expense costs across geographic areas relative to the national
average
• Malpractice insurance (MP)
• Based on rolling 3-year averages of each state’s malpractice costs

GEOGRAPHIC PRACTICE COST INDICES (GPCIS)
(CONTINUED)
• Composite GPCI (also called a geographic adjustment factor, or GAF), is arrived at by
weighting each GPCI by the share of Medicare payments accounted for by the work, practice
expense, and MP components
• Example: CPT 12001, repair superficial wound
• Work RVU = 0.84
• Practice expense RVU (non-facility) = 1.58
• MP RVU = 0.11
• MN Work GPCI = 1.000
• MN PE GPCI = 1.020
• MN MP GPCI = 0.319
• Total RVU for MN is (0.84*1.000)+(1.58*1.020)+(0.14*0.319)=2.4867
• MN 2015 Medicare allowed = 2.4867*$35.8013 = $89.03

CONVERSION FACTORS
• Medicare conversion factor (CF) is the same for all physicians across the US
• Conversion factors have changed very little over past 13 years
2015 - $35.8013 2008 - $38.0870
2014 - $35.8228 2007 - $37.8975
2013 - $34.0230 2006 - $37.8975
2012 - $34.0376 2005 - $37.8975
2011 - $33.9764 2004 - $37.3374
2010 - $36.0846 2003 - $36.7856
2009 - $36.0666

HISTORICAL ALLOWED AMOUNT – 99213 (MID-
LEVEL E&M VISIT, ESTABLISHED PT)
2015 - $72.94 2007 - $62.03
2014 - $73.08 2006 - $51.75
2013 - $72.81 2005 - $51.75
2012 - $70.46 2004 - $51.12
2011 - $68.97 2003 - $49.62
2010 - $66.74 2002 - $48.83
2009 - $61.31 2001 - $50.82
2008 - $61.95 2000 - $50.12

HISTORICAL ALLOWED AMOUNT – 27332
(REMOVAL OF KNEE CARTILAGE)
2015 - $661.82 2007 - $570.35
2014 - $652.69 2006 - $602.23
2013 - $648.48 2005 - $602.23
2012 - $638.20 2004 - $588.25
2011 - $630.94 2003 - $644.91
2010 - $609.88 2002 - $628.87
2009 - $588.61 2001 - $644.50
2008 - $570.35 2000 - $586.08

RBRVS
• Conversion factor is updated each year by CMS
• Most payors have adopted RBRVS as their method of reimbursing physicians
• Some use GPCIs, others do not
• Typical HMO conversion factor is $45-$65+ – varies by product and by region
• Typical PPO conversion factor is $45-$70+ - varies by product and region
• Some payors will override RBRVS for certain codes, such as allergy injections, E/M visits, etc.
– typically to increase payment for primary care services

RBRVS TO SET FEES
• Many physician practices use RBRVS for setting fees
• Typical primary care CF is $60-$80
• Typical specialty CF is $80-$95++

RBRVS TO COMPENSATE PHYSICIANS
• Many clinics use RBRVS to compensate physicians within their practice
• Is not dependent on payor mix and thereby does not economically penalize a physician who
sees a higher share of government-paying patients
• Usually only the physician work portion of the RVU is used
• A conversion factor may be established for compensation
• Bonuses can also be prorated based on each physician’s work RVUs compared with the
clinic’s total work RVUs

• HCFA has not set RVUs for most HCPCS Level II codes, most lab codes, and many codes that
are “unspecified” or “other”
• Vendors have used HCFA’s method to set RVUs and have set weights for every CPT and
HCPCS Level II code
• Vendor datasets are excellent resource for lab, supplies, etc
SERVICES FOR WHICH NO RVU IS ESTABLISHED

THANK YOU!
For more information please contact:
Rich Henriksen
rhenriksen@nokomishealth.com
612.825.2342
www.nokomishealth.com

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