sation, there are additional codes you can use other than your E&M codes.” Instead of billing 99213 or 99214 for a visit that includes tobacco cessation counseling, he bills 99406 and receives an extra $13.10 per Medicare patient. Using the prevention calculators, phy- sicians can easily look at the codes to make sure they spend the required three to 10 minutes on tobacco counseling, for instance, to properly document and bill for the service.


That documentation, Dr. Fuller says, also can prove beneficial in other areas, such as certification for meaningful use of electronic health records or for status as a patient-centered medical home, and preparation for future value-based pay- ment mechanisms.


But he cautions against “cherry-pick- ing” patients based on how payers cover certain preventive services. “If you are doing it for some patients, you should do it for everybody,” Dr. Full-


er said, not only because of the hassle of remembering each payer’s fee structures, but also because patients and practices can only benefit.


The calculators may appear to be only for primary care physicians, but Dr. Full- er says prevention cuts across specialties. “There is at least one thing in these tools that can help physicians, no matter the specialty.”


emption categories, or obtain approval for a hardship exemption. To qualify for the 2013 incentive of


0.5 percent of Medicare Part B claims and prevent the penalty in 2015, phy- sicians must report at least 25 unique e-prescribing Medicare encounters dur- ing 2013. Some penalty exclusions may apply to physicians who do not have at least 100 Medicare Part B cases or 10 percent or more of their Medicare Part B Physician Fee Schedule allowable charg- es containing an eRx measure code, for example.


E-prescribing penalties kick in June 30


Physicians will take a 2-percent hit to their 2014 Medicare payments if they do not meet the requirements of the federal electronic prescribing (eRx) incentive program, meet one of the limited ex-


100,000 Bike Helmets & Counting Thanks for


helping TMA’s Hard Hats for Little Heads


reach a major milestone —


and for helping us keep Texas children safe.


Contact TMA’s outreach coordinator at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1470, or tmaoutreachcoordinator@ texmed.org.


The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid


Services reopened the Quality Reporting Communication Support Page through June 30 to allow physicians to request a hardship exemption for 2014. (To access the page, log on to www.qualitynet.org/ portal/server.pt/community/communi cations_support_system/234.) Physicians who do not meet one of


the exemption or hardship categories must:


• Report the eRx measure via claims — 10 eRx events for individual physi- cians and larger numbers for groups;


• Register for the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) in- centive program by June 30, 2013; or


• Achieve meaningful use under the EHR incentive program during one of the reporting periods needed to avoid an eRx penalty in 2014.


For additional information on the 2014 eRx penalties and how to avoid them, contact the Texas Medical Asso- ciation Health Information Technology Department at (800) 880-5720 or by email at HIT@texmed.org; or visit TMA’s EHR Incentive Program Resource Center at www.texmed.org/EHRIncentive/. n


Amy Lynn Sorrel is an associate editor of Texas Medicine. You can reach her by telephone at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1392, or (512) 370-1392; by fax at (512) 370-1629; or by email at amy.sorrel@texmed.org.


Hard Hats for Little Heads is funded by the TMA Foundation thanks to top donors — Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, Prudential, and an anonymous foundation — and gifts from physicians and their families.


42 TEXAS MEDICINE June 2013


Texas Medicine - 1/3 H 4.6875 x 4.8125


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