Appeal type: unknown
Decision: unknown

 
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 say that providers/suppliers must report services correctly. Procedures should be reported with the 
Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code that describes the services performed. You can find this rule in 
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Medicare National Correct Coding Initiative Policy Manual 
for Medicare Services, Chapter I(A). 
 
The rules 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 and Medicaid Services, Internet 
Only Manual, Publication 100-04, Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapter 23, Section 20.9. 
 
The rules say that modifier -59 is used to indicate a distinct procedural service. This may represent a different 
session or patient encounter, different procedure or surgery, different site, or organ system, separate 
incision/excision, or separate injury. You can find this rule in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 
Internet Only Manual, National Correct Coding Initiative Policy Manual, Chapter 1, Section E(d). 
 
The rules say that the global surgery package of procedures with a global period of 10 or 90 days includes all 
additional medical or surgical services required of the surgeon during the postoperative period of the surgery 
because of complications which do not require additional trips to the operating room, follow-up visits during 
the postoperative period of the surgery that are related to recovery from the surgery, among other related services. In order to report an unrelated evaluation and management (EM) service by same physician during a 
postoperative period, modifier -24 must be used. Services submitted with the -24 modifier must be sufficiently 
documented to establish that the visit was unrelated to the surgery. Not included in the global surgery payment 
are clearly distinct surgical procedures during the postoperative period which are not re-operations or treatment 
for complications. These services should be billed with modifier -79. You can find this information in the 
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Internet-Only Manual, Publication 100-04, Medicare Claims 
Processing Manual, Chapter 12, Section 40.1. 
 
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.