News-At-A-Glance: Latest CCI Edits Update

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) updates the Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) edit files every quarter during the year. The latest batch of CCI edits was announced in a Feb. 28 transmittal (R2892CP, change request 8558) with an effective date of July 1 and an implementation date of July 7. This is version 20.2 and, as usual, will include all previous versions and updates since Jan. 1, 1996. In the case of an error in the CCI files that causes improper denials, providers will have to bring them to the attention of their Medicare contractors, who are instructed not to make corrections on their own. Providers can obtain more information about the edits on the CMS Web site at http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/NationalCorrectCodInitEd/index.html. The Web site includes a link to the CCI coding policy manual published annually and a link to the Medically Unlikely Edits (MUE) files. The MUE file is also updated quarterly. Unfortunately, the specific changes to the edit files are not yet available, but providers should monitor the Web site and their contractor’s Web site for the specific information so they can update their billing system edits to avoid unnecessary claims denials.