PET Update
G Codes Obsolete April 4, 2005
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that it will discontinue the use of the HCPCS G codes for PET procedures and will activate the new and existing 78XXX series PET CPT® codes, effective April 4, 2005. CMS indicated that the 78XXX series codes could be billed retroactively from January 30, 2005, and that the G codes should not be billed after April 4, 2005, as they will not be reimbursed. CMS asked the specialty societies to communicate to their memberships that it is unable to issue instructions to Medicare carriers and fiscal intermediaries regarding this coding update in time for implementation. Accordingly, physicians performing PET should hold claims until they hear from their carriers or fiscal intermediaries. Radiology practices may contact their local Medicare carriers and fiscal intermediaries for more details regarding submission of PET claims.
Click here to access the CMS announcement regarding the active 78XXX PET CPT® codes and discontinued G HCPCS PET codes.
PET Registry
CMS is not yet ready to provide instructions on the PET registry and the enrollment process associated with its national coverage decision on PET for various cancers. The ACR does not anticipate that guidelines and enrollment for the registry will be ready until later this summer.
The ACR will continue to closely monitor the PET coding and registry instructions and will keep its membership informed as they develop. Look for a more detailed article on PET and PET/CT services in a future publication of the ACR Radiology Coding Source™.