According to the report, the new combined-code required cuts reimbursements approximately in half, causing providers to lose between $200 and $400 in reimbursement per pair of scans. Although the original codes for abdomen and pelvis CT scans conducted separately still exist, CMS now requires that services performed together at least 75 percent of the time must use only one CPT code.
CMS believes assigning one code for the two services will eliminate double payments for similar scans conducted at the same time. According to the report, this move to the combined-code requirement has been opposed for five years by the American College of Radiology, which has cited concerns over physician and coder confusion and lost reimbursement.
Read the Diagnostic Imaging report on CT scans.
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