Respiratory Question for the Week of April 10, 2023

Question:

Do you have information on the OPPS status indicators that impact respiratory therapy services?

Answer:

The status indicator of D is associated with deleted codes. Note that J2 is specific to outpatient observation stays. Medicare has aimed to finish out the packaging of services since 2017 with many of these services rolled into a comprehensive type of service. Medicare believes this initiative is a more efficient way for the system to not only manage its payments but for hospitals to understand their own reimbursement while ultimately managing their cost within their payment allowance. N is for a packaged service that is unconditionally packaged, regardless of what the setting is and whether you are looking at an outpatient walk-in or observation patient. You will not see a detailed line item come back when furnished underneath this service. Q codes are conditionally packaged. Q1, 3, 4, impact reimbursement methods for respiratory therapy. The S status indicator represents significant procedures. Typically, these are surgical procedures or other high-cost diagnostic procedures. To view a complete table of status indicators that impact RT, view our insights blog.

This question was answered in our annual Respiratory Therapy Reimbursement & Compliance Update webcast. For more hot topics relating to respiratory services, please visit our store or call us at 1.800.252.1578, ext. 2.