House Call Physicians Ineligible for e-Prescribing Incentives

The AAFP's efforts, in tandem with those of the American Academy of Home Care Physicians, or AAHCP, to correct an oversight in CMS' recently launched electronic-prescribing incentive program, recently resulted in a denial from the agency.

In a Feb. 9 letter to CMS Acting Administrator Charlene Frizzera, AAFP Board Chair Jim King, M.D., of Selmer, Tenn., pointed out that, as currently implemented by CMS, Section 132 of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 "precludes physicians who practice predominantly, if not exclusively, as house call physicians from participation in the e-prescribing incentive program."

On Feb. 23, however, AAFP News Now learned from AAHCP Executive Director Constance Row that CMS had declined to make the changes recommended by the two organizations.

The issue lies with the agency's choice of CPT codes that appear in the denominator of the e-prescribing legislation. As King pointed out in his letter to CMS, those CPT codes include services provided in the areas of psychotherapy, general ophthalmological services, health and behavior assessment and intervention, office and outpatient visits, and office consultations.

However, CMS failed to include codes typically used by physicians who focus their practices on house call services, said King. Those codes also include care provided to patients living in nursing homes.

King argued that many house call physicians were early adopters of health information technology and e-prescribing. He said patients served by home care physicians usually have multiple comorbidities that call for an array of prescriptions that would be more efficiently handled electronically.

According to Row, however, "CMS has decided definitively not to add these codes to the 2009 electronic-prescribing incentive program." She added that the letter from CMS indicated the agency may "consider changes for 2010 or beyond."

Row said that statistics provided by CMS only reinforce the argument that home health care physicians and other eligible providers should have the opportunity to benefit financially from the e-prescribing bonus program.

She cited figures from CMS' Physician Supplier Procedure Summary Master Record that details Part B claims paid by Medicare carriers in 2007.

According to those data, all Medicare providers combined logged 2,194,083 total house calls and 1,696,411 total domiciliary visits (i.e., house calls to patients residing in assisted living facilities) in 2007.

Family physicians alone logged 410,582 house call visits and 286,521 domiciliary visits in 2007.

In his letter, King called on CMS to add home services CPT codes 99341 to 99350 and domiciliary/rest home visit CPT codes 99324 to 99337 to the denominator for eligibility in the e-prescribing incentive program.

Row said that in light of CMS' rejection of that suggestion, her organization would continue to work closely with the AAFP for possible resolution of the issue in 2010.