Friday, October 28, 2022

New LCDs in Urine Drug Testing; Florida Cans LCD for Immunohistochemistry

CMS posts new draft LCDs on Thursdays, as well as new finalized LCDs.

Urine Drug LCDs

I don't work on urine drug testing myself, but I know it's a big industry.  Palmetto posts a revised LCD here, and FCSO (Florida) a revised LCD here.   They're not the same, but they're long and I haven't analyzed how different they are.  And I would think each MAC would have high prior urine drug LCDs, but they're treated as new ones, not revisions.

Immunohistochemistry LCDs

Meanwhile, FCSO posts for deletion (retirement), an LCD for "histochemical stains and immunohistochemistry."  L36234, here.  The 'revision explanation" text says, This LCD is being retired secondary to data analysis and a review of the current literature, which revealed that the LCD and its corresponding Billing and Coding Article are neither reflective of the current standard of practice nor having a significant impact on Medicare expenditures.

Note that Palmetto has an LCD wit the identical title, not posted for retirement (L35922).  There was a big brouhaha when it was introduced in October 2015.  

Medicare Nerd Notes x 2

Until recently, MACs didn't need to post advance notice of an LCD retirement, they could just pull it down rapidly.  Now, they post an LCD, and you have to look to the "reason for revision" box down at the bottom to see the only reason for posting, is retirement.

The Palmetto "Immunohistochemistry" LCD was originally a "MolDx" LCD (so titled).  The word MolDx was deleted from this LCD because now MolDx only handles DNA RNA tests.   (Both human and pathogen).