The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid has announced they expect to discontinue exercising enforcement discretion regarding medical reviews beginning on August 3, 2020, regardless of the status of the public health emergency. This includes pre-payment medical reviews conducted by MedicareAdministrative Contractors (MACs) under the Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE) program, and postpayment reviews conducted by the MACs, Supplemental Medical Review Contractor (SMRC) reviews and Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC). Click HERE to read it straight from CMS. I hope you found this information helpful.

Palmetto has published an updated list of active medical reviews. Pertaining to outpatient therapy, 2 of the active medical reviews include CPT code 97110 (therapeutic exercise) and 97140 (manual therapy) provided in non-private practice settings. It’s important to document not just what the patient performed in therapy that visit, but what did the therapist or assistant do for the patient that visit that required the unique skills of a therapist, or an assistant under the direction and supervision of the therapist, to provide. Did the therapist or assistant provide verbal instruction and/or correction to the patient during the performance of

Palmetto GBA, Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) for Jurisdiction J which includes the states of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, currently has two active medical reviews for outpatient therapy services for non-private practice settings. The two reviews are focused on CPT code 97110 (therapeutic exercise) and CPT code 97140 (manual therapy). When the results of the review are posted, I will write an article on the findings.