Medicare Claims Processing Manual (Pub. 100-04), Ch. 4 § 10.2.4
Reporting for Certain Outpatient Department Services (That
10.2.4 - Reporting for Certain Outpatient Department Services (That
Are Similar to Therapy Services) (“Non-Therapy Outpatient
Department Services”) and Are Adjunctive to Comprehensive APC
Procedures
(Rev. 10541; Issued: 12-31-20; Effective: 01-01-21; Implementation: 01-04-21)
This language was originally published in the October 2016 Update of the Outpatient
Perspective Payment System (OPPS) (Transmittal R3602CP). We are updating this
language based on the removal of the regulations at 42 CFR 410.59(a)(4) and 42 CFR
410.60(a)(4) related to functional reporting for therapy services.
Non-therapy outpatient department services are services such as physical therapy,
occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology provided during the perioperative
period (of a Comprehensive APC (C-APC) procedure) without a certified therapy plan of
care. These are not therapy services as described in section 1834(k) of the Act, regardless
of whether the services are delivered by therapists or other non-therapist health care
workers. Therapy services are those provided by therapists under a plan of care in
accordance with section 1835(a)(2)(C) and section 1835(a)(2)(D) of the Act and are paid
for under section 1834(k) of the Act, subject to annual therapy caps as applicable (78 FR
74867 and 79 FR 66800), until they were repealed by Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018,
effective January 1, 2018. Because these services are outpatient department services and
not therapy services, the requirement for functional reporting under the regulations at 42
CFR 410.59(a)(4) and 42 CFR 410.60(a)(4) does not apply. The functional reporting
requirements were applicable until January 1, 2019 at which time the regulations at 42
CFR 410.59(a)(4) and 42 CFR 410.60(a)(4) were removed (83 FR 41786 and 83 FR
59452).
The comprehensive APC payment policy packages payment for adjunctive items,
services, and procedures into the most costly primary procedures under the OPPS at the
claim level. When non-therapy outpatient department services are included on the same
claim as a C-APC procedure (status indicator (SI) = J1) (see 80 FR 70326) or the specific
combination of services assigned to the Observation Comprehensive APC 8011 (SI = J2),
these services are considered adjunctive to the primary procedure. Payment for non-
therapy outpatient department services is included as a packaged part of the payment for
the C-APC procedure.
Effective for claims received on or after October 1, 2016 with dates of service on or after
January 1, 2015, providers may report non-therapy outpatient department services (that
are similar to therapy services) that are adjunctive to a C-APC procedure (SI = J1) or the
specific combination of services assigned to the Observation Comprehensive APC 8011
(SI = J2), in one of two ways:
1. Without using the therapy CPT codes and instead reporting these non-therapy services
with Revenue Code 0940 (Other Therapeutic Services); or
2. Reporting non-therapy outpatient department services that are adjunctive to J1 or J2
services with the appropriate occurrence codes, CPT codes, modifiers, and revenue
codes.