New CPT codes raise rates, but billing problems remain

March 4, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. New CPT codes raise rates, but billing problems remain Cardiac MR codes grant a victory despite continued Medicare ban on blood flow measurement payment James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eight replacement CPT billing codes and a nearly twofold increase in relative value unit rates used to calculate payments for cardiac MR imaging have raised the spirits of physician users about the modality’s prospects. Medicare still refuses to pay, however, for cardiac MR blood flow measurements, a key component of valvular and congenital abnormality studies. “The change in the reimbursement circumstances is a very tangible thing,” said Dr. Charles Higgins, president of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. “This is something that we hope will have a cascading effect to encourage more physicians to enter the field and for the manufacturers to further develop their cardiac MR products.”

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