CMS recognizes specialty of interventional cardiology

Interventional cardiologists now have the option of being identified by payers, including Medicare, as interventional cardiologists rather than general cardiologists or internists, the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) stated this week. The society filed for a dedicated CMS physician specialty code in 2013, claiming that interventional cardiology patients and treatments were sufficiently different from those of general cardiology and other cardiovascular subspecialties to warrant the designation. CMS granted the SCAI’s request last year, effective January 1, 2015.

Prior to the change, interventional cardiologists were grouped with general cardiologists, internists and other less-intensive physicians in payers’ administrative databases.

Benefits of specialty recognition include fewer claims denials, fairer evaluation of resource utilization, improved evaluation of outcomes and performance, and better data and enhanced advocacy, SCAI stated. For example, when a general cardiologist and an interventional cardiologist from the same practice participate in a patient’s care, both can now be reimbursed for their work without concerns about duplicate claims.

Source: SCAI