Be Part of the Action: CMS Open Door Forum for HCPCS

rninformatics, DNP, RN · Oct 15, 2004

You may wish to explore the CMS website link to review the second

meeting announcement about the Physicians, Nurses and Other Providers

Forum on October 18th in Washington, DC.

CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) has announced a series

of meetings as part of its new Open Door Forum. If you can not attend in

person, telephone access is available in most instances. Note the

October 27, 2004 meeting is in Baltimore, Maryland. Depending on your

expertise and interests, you will also want to pay attention to the open

forums for one or more of the following groups:

Ambulance Open Door Forum

Disability Open Door Forum

Diversity Open Door Forum

End-Stage Renal Disease & Clinical Laboratories Open Door Forum

Health Plans Open Door Forum

Home Health, Hospice & Durable Medical Equipment Open Door Forum

Hospital Open Door Forum

Low Income Health Access Open Door Forum

Medicare Secondary Payer Open Door Forum

New Freedom Initiative Open Door Forum

Nurses & Allied Health Professionals Open Door Forum

Pharmaceutical, Pharmacy, and Device Manufacturers Open Door Forum

Physician Open Door Forum

Rural Health Open Door Forum

Skilled Nursing Facility/Long Term Care Open Door Forum

Go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/opendoor/ for more details on how to

subscribe to the associated group e-mail lists.

Here's the information about the 10/27/04 Baltimore meeting

Start Date: 10/27/2004 02:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (Wednesday)

Duration: 2 Hours

Place: CMS Auditorium- Single Site Building

CMS Special Open Door Forum:

Revising the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) Process

The Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) was established

in 1978 to provide a standardized coding system for describing the

specific items and services provided in the delivery of health care.

Such coding is necessary for Medicare, Medicaid, and other health

insurance programs to ensure that insurance claims are processed in an

orderly and consistent manner. Initially, use of the codes was

voluntary, but with the implementation of the Health Insurance

Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) use of the HCPCS

for

transactions involving health care information became mandatory.

Recent improvements revising the process HCPCS uses to update the code

sets for payment of health care items and services will help get new

technologies to patients more quickly. To accommodate these

improvements, along with the pending new changes in the HCPCS coding

system, the revised HCPCS coding process will be phased in over the

deadline of January 3, 2005. This change will permit expanded

opportunities for public comment on preliminary coding decisions

compared to the current coding update schedule.

CMS invites you to attend this Special Open Door Forum on Revising the

Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) Process. At this

meeting we hope to discuss many of the new changes to the HCPCS

process, like the appeals process and public notice of decisions, as

well as the new HCPCS Code Application form. Specifically, the points we

are looking to cover in discussion:

-Expansion of the Public Meetings

-Appeals Process

-Public Notice of Decisions

-Revision of the HCPCS Code Application Form

-Elimination of Requirement for Marketing Data for Drugs

-Reduction in Marketing Data for Non-drug items

-Consideration of national Medicaid program operating needs

For more background, please refer to our press release:

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/media/press/release.asp?Counter=1225

Open Door Participation Instructions:

There are 2 ways to participate, by phone or "in-person".

1. To participate by phone:

Dial: 1-800-837-1935 & Reference Conference ID: 1212719

Persons participating by phone do not need to RSVP.

Note: TTY Communications Relay Services are available for the Hearing

Impaired. For TTY services dial 7-1-1 or 1-800-855-2880 and for

Internet

Relay services click here

http://www.consumer.att.com/relay/which/index.html.

A Relay Communications Assistant will help

2. To participate in-person:

If you intend to participate in person, RSVP is required:

Please send a reply by close of business Friday, October 22nd to

[email protected].

Please include "HCPCS" in the subject line of your message, and send

us

the following information:

a) Your full name

b) Your organization or representation

c) Your contact information (phone and email)

d) Special needs information

Location information:

ADDRESS:

CMS Single Site Building

Auditorium

7500 Security Boulevard

Baltimore, MD 21244

October 18, 2004 Physicians, Nurses & Allied Health Professionals 2:00

pm at DHHS Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C. Room 305A