The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a reference chart listing the new G-codes needed for outpatient therapy services claims under the Medicare fee-for-service program.
The G-codes were mandated by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Jobs Creation Act of 2012. They are meant to provide more detailed information about patients’ conditions and outcomes, to support reforms of the Medicare payment system for outpatient therapy.
There are 42 new non-payable functional Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System G-codes and seven new severity/complexity modifiers for physical, occupational and speech-language pathology claims. Following a testing period, the new G-codes took effect last month. As of July 1, claims that do not include the required codes would be returned or rejected, CMS stated.
CMS announced the release of the downloadable reference chart in a Medicare newsletter emailed Thursday. The chart breaks down the codes by set, such as mobility, self-care and swallowing, and includes the long descriptor and short descriptor for each code. It also lists the seven new modifiers.
