Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Brief Blog: 2018 HCPCS Coding Decisions Released; Another Bad Year for DME; Diabetes Strike-Out

Each January, CMS accepts applications for new HCPCS codes.   CMS holds a public meeting in May-June, releases preliminary decisions in early September, and releases final decisions about Thanksgiving.

The only easy category is codes for new intravenous drugs, and each year there are quite a few of those.  Most of the applicants get the code they ask for.

For other therapies and equipment, it's a cold harsh process.    CMS has released its coding decisions for CY2018, on the HCPCS website, here.   I've also put the 5 PDFs in one zip file in the cloud, here.

It was a strike-out for all three diabetes technology codes I was tracking. 

  • No code for the Medtronic 670G artificial pancreas; 
  • No code for the associated, PMA-grade glucose strips or high accuracy PMA-grade meters, and 
  • No code for a telemedicine scale used in diabetes prevention programs.   
  • Dexcom also lost its attempt for more specific battery coding for the Dexcom G5.  
  • Nearly all of several dozen other equipment or supply code applications failed.