According to the release, the new standard will require anesthesia time to be reported in minutes instead of units. Some commercial payors use this system currently, but the implementation date will expand the requirement to all payors.
The change may cause some payors to move from a full unit to fractional unit payment system, which could benefit some anesthesia providers and cost others money depending on when individual contracts permit rounding to the next unit. Any change to commercial payment contracts should be negotiated between commercial payors and providers.
According to the report, the change does not stop contracts from rounding to the nearest whole unit when determining payments.
Read the ASA release on HIPAA 5010.
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