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Cost-Sharing for COVID-19 Testing-Related Services

Published on 

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

 | FAQ 

Q:

What COVID-19 testing-related services are eligible for waiving cost-sharing and how are they identified in Medicare claims?




A:

CMS provided the following information in the Thursday, August 27, 2020 edition of MLNConnects:

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act waives cost-sharing under Medicare Part B (coinsurance and deductible amounts) for COVID-19 testing-related services through the end of the public health emergency. In April, CMS provided evaluation and management categories for applicable medical visits. We are now specifying HCPCS procedure codes for this cost-sharing waiver for:

Use the Cost Sharing (CS) modifier on applicable claim lines to identify the service as subject to this cost-sharing wavier. If you use the CS modifier with HCPCS codes that are not on the list, we will return the claim.

For more information, see MLN Matters Special Edition Article SE20011 Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) Response to the Public Health Emergency on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) (PDF).

Resource:

Thursday, August 27, 2020 edition MLNConnects:

https://www.cms.gov/outreach-and-educationoutreachffsprovpartprogprovider-partnership-email-archive/2020-08-27-mlnc#_Toc49329805

Article Author: Beth Cobb, RN, BSN, ACM, CCDS
Beth Cobb, RN, BSN, ACM, CCDS, is the Manager of Clinical Analytics at Medical Management Plus, Inc. Beth has over twenty-five years of experience in healthcare including eleven years in Case Management at a large multi-facility health system. In her current position, Beth is a principle writer for MMP’s Wednesday@One weekly e-newsletter, an active member of our HIPAA Compliance Committee, MMP’s Education Department Program Director and co-developer of MMP’s proprietary Compliance Protection Assessment Tool.

This material was compiled to share information.  MMP, Inc. is not offering legal advice. Every reasonable effort has been taken to ensure the information is accurate and useful.