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The rules say that plans must pay for a medical service or item if regular Medicare would pay for it in this case. 
You can find this rule at 42 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 422.101. 
 
The rules state that effective for claims with dates of service July 1, 2007, and after, the non-Outpatient 
Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Outpatient Code Editor (OCE) will be integrated into the OPPS OCE. 
This integration will result in the routing of all institutional outpatient claims, including non-OPPS hospital 
claims, through a single integrated OCE eliminating the need to update two separate OCE software packages 
on a quarterly basis. The integrated OCE does not change the current logic that is applied to outpatient bill 
types that already pass through the OPPS OCE software. It merely expands the software usage to include non-
OPPS hospitals. This new software product will be referred to as the Integrated OCE (I/OCE). The I/OCE 
instructions and specifications are provided via Recurring Update Notifications. They are also posted on the 
Web at the following address: 
https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/OutpatientCodeEdit/OCEQtrReleaseSpecs. You can find this 
information in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Internet-Only Manual, Publication 100-04, 
Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapter 4, Section 40.1. 
 
The rules also say that the OCE Centers for Medicare & Medicate Services (CMS) Specifications V24.1, 
Effective April 1, 2023, Edit Description and Reason for Edit Generation Table shows: 
-I/OCE edit 62 indicates that this code not recognized by the OPPS; alternate code for same service may be 
available. 
-I/OCE edit 40 indicates this procedure is identified as part of another procedure on the claim coded on the 
same day, where the modifier was either not coded or is not an National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) 
allowed modifier.  
-I/OCE edit 15 indicates the maximum units allowed is greater than zero and the sum of the service units for all 
line items with the same procedure code on the same day exceeds the maximum allowed for this procedure. 
You can find this information at the CMS Integrated Outpatient Code Editor CMS Specifications V24.1, 
Effective April 1, 2023, Section 6.2. 
 
The rules also say that the Physician Fee Schedule Status Indicator B means that payment for covered services is always bundled into payment for other services not specified. There will be no payment amounts for these 
codes and no separate payment is ever made. When these services are covered, payment for them is subsumed 
by the payment for the services to which they are incident. You can find this information in the Centers for 
Medicare & Medicaid Services, Internet Only Manual, Publication 100-04, Medicare Claims Processing 
Manual, Chapter 23, Section 30.2.2. 
 
The rules also say that the Correct Coding Initiative was developed to promote correct coding and to control 
improper coding leading to inappropriate payment in Part B claims. The Coding Policy Manual also explains 
what is referred to as Column One/Column Two Correct Coding and Mutually Exclusive Edits. These are code 
pairs that should not be reported together. Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) subject all line items 
for the same beneficiary, same National Provider Identifier (NPI), and same date of service to National Correct 
Coding Initiative (NCCI) edits. The National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) File Formats continue to 
include a Correct Coding Modifier Indicator (CCMI) for the Column One / Column Two Correct Coding edit 
file. This indicator determines whether an NCCI Procedure to Procedure (PTP)-associated modifier causes the 
code pair to bypass the edit. You can find this rule in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Internet 
Only Manual, Publication 100-04, Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapter 23, Section 20.9. 
 
The rules say that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS) has established units of service edits 
referred to as Medically Unlikely Edits (MUEs). An MUE for a Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System 
(HCPCS)/Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code is the maximum number of units of service under most 
circumstances allowable by the same provider for the same enrollee on the same date of service. Claims 
submitted where the unit of service exceeds the MUE value for that HCPCS/CPT code will be denied. 
Beginning on April 1, 2013, CMS introduced the MUE Adjudication Indicator (MAI) to differentiate between 
types of MUEs. If a code has an MAI of 1, appropriate use of a modifier may be used to report the same code 
on separate lines of the claim. MUEs for codes with an MAI of 2 are absolute date of service edits. These are 
per day edits based on policy. Codes with an MAI of 2 have been rigorously reviewed and vetted within 
CMS and obtain this MAI designation because units of service on the same date of service (DOS) in excess of 
the MUE value would be considered impossible because it was contrary to statute, regulation, or subregulatory 
guidance. You can find this rule in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service, Medicare National Correct 
Coding Initiative Policy Manual for Medicare Services, Chapter I(V). 
 
If you want to read these Medicare rules, you can go to this website www.medicareappeal.com. 
 
The Plan contract says that the Plan covers items and services in accordance with Medicare rules.