Ask Your Senators to Support Amendment No. 3163 on Medicare Consultation Services
In the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) eliminate payments for inpatient and outpatient consultation service codes commonly used by specialists to provide complex, highly-skilled medical care to patients referred by primary care and other physicians. This will force heart rhythm professionals to use office and hospital Evaluation and Management (E/M) codes to diagnose complex cardiac rhythm and electrical abnormalities. These new code changes will result in a significant decrease in reimbursement for heart rhythm professionals who provide a disproportionate share of specialized consultative services.
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) recently filed Amendment No. 3163, which will implement a one-year delay of the CMS regulation eliminating consultation service codes. In addition, CMS will be required to consult with the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel of the American Medical Association (AMA) during the interim one-year period to modify existing codes or establish replacement codes to provide a coding structure adequately accounting for consultation services. The AMA CPT Editorial Panel is responsible for revising, updating or modifying CPT codes and allows input from a variety of physician specialties.
Take Action Today!
Call or e-mail your senators asking them to protect Medicare patients' access to heart rhythm care by voting in favor of Amendment No. 3163 as part of health care reform legislation.
- E-mail — Use the online template and form letter to e-mail your senators. While you can send the model letter as is, we hope that you will choose to modify that letter to explain the impact of the consultation code elimination on your practice.
- Call — Use the Society’s website to access your senator's phone number and key talking points to assist you when discussing these key issues with your senators. The Heart Rhythm Society’s Health Policy staff will continue to review the breaking news regarding health care reform and will provide detailed summaries to keep members informed. If you have any questions, please contact Isabelle Le Blanc, Coordinator, Legislative Affairs and Health Policy via e-mail or by calling (202) 464-3465.
