Sometimes it is not clear what date to use when billing a service. The service might be performed over the course of more than one day, or may be provided without a face-to-face encounter. Medicare has recently reiterated which dates are appropriate to use when billing these service exceptions.
Radiology Services
Typically, radiology services have two separate components: a professional and technical component. These services will have a PC/TC indicator of “1” on the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Relative Value File. The technical component is billed on the date the patient had the test performed. When billing a global service, the provider can submit the professional component with a date of service reflecting when the review and interpretation is completed or can submit the date of service as the date the technical component was performed. This will allow ease of processing for both Medicare and the supplemental payers. If the provider did not perform a global service and instead performed only one component, the date of service for the technical component would the date the patient received the service and the date of service for the professional component would be the date the review and interpretation is completed.
Care Plan Oversight (CPO)
CPO is the of a patient receiving complex and/or multidisciplinary care as part of Medicare covered services provided by a participating home health agency or Medicare approved hospice. Providers must provide physician supervision of a patient involving 30 or more minutes of the physician's time per month to report CPO services. The claim for CPO must not include any other services and is only billed after the end of the month in which CPO was provided. The date of service submitted on the claim can be the last date of the month or the date in which at least 30 minutes of time .
Home Health Certification and Recertification
The date of service the Certification is the date the physician/Non-Physician Practitioner (NPP) completes and signs the plan of care. The date of the Recertification is the date the physician/NPP completes the review.
Transitional Care Management (TCM)
TCM services are 30-day services provided when a patient is discharged from an appropriate facility and requires moderate or high-complexity medical decision making. The date of service is the date the practitioner completes the required face-to-face visit. Keep in mind, there are additional services to be provided during the 30-day period.
Home Prothrombin Time (PT/INR) Monitoring
There are several procedure codes applicable to this service. The G0248 describes the initial demonstration use of home INR monitoring and instructions for reporting. The date of service is the date the demonstration and instructions for reporting are given in a face-to-face setting with the patient. G0249 describes the provision of test materials and equipment for home INR monitoring. The date of service is the date the test materials and equipment are given to the patient. G0250 describes the physician review, interpretation, and patient management of home INR testing. This service is payable only once every 4 weeks. The date of service is the date of the fourth test interpretation. For 2018, there is also code 93793 describing the physician interpretation and instructions. The appropriate date of service is the date of the review.