Diabetes self-management education/training (DSMET) is cost-effective and improves health outcomes as patients maintain better control of their A1C. Diabetes educators provide education/training services and enable physicians to provide comprehensive high-quality care for their patients with diabetes and those at high risk of developing diabetes. The primary care practitioner in DSMT provides general medical care and is responsible for overall care, including the coordination of medical specialists.
Role of Primary Care Practitioner in DSMT
Diabetes educators bring a unique skill set to the physician‘s practice and are important adjuncts to primary care. These educators:
- help patients with diabetes develop the skills for managing their illnesses.
- increase a practice‘s efficiency by assuming time-consuming patient training, counseling, and follow-up duties.
- serve as an extension of the physician‘s practice
- to enhance the quality of care delivered.
Diabetes educators are nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, and other healthcare professionals with special training in diabetes care who counsel patients on how to incorporate healthy behaviors into their lives.
Diabetes self-management education/training is an interactive, collaborative, ongoing process involving the person with diabetes (or the caregiver or families) and a diabetes educator(s). Diabetes self-management education/training addresses 7 self-care behaviors known as the AADE7™. These behaviors are Healthy Eating, Being Active, Monitoring, Taking Medication, Problem-solving, Healthy coping, and Reducing risk.
Physicians will benefit by establishing a relationship with a diabetes educator who can provide these services for their patients with diabetes. The following information applies to services provided by diabetes educators who contract with or are employees in physician offices.
Most payors cover and pay for DSMT in the primary care setting, although they may use different terminology, e.g., diabetes self-management training (DSMT) or diabetes education. Unfortunately, diabetes education is an underused service, perhaps because of a lack of clarity about how to obtain reimbursement. Additionally, services for discipline-specific counseling, such as nutrition therapy provided by dietitians/nutritionists or medication management services provided by pharmacists can also be billed and are frequently reimbursed by third-party payors.
Appropriate billing for the services of a diabetes educator and the resultant reimbursement will allow the physician to enhance the care that his/her practice offers to patients with diabetes. Payment for claims varies by the payor. The same is true for coverage and adjudication practices. Because coverage policies vary, the physician will wish to check each payor‘s coverage policies, coding requirements, and reimbursement guidelines.
Physician billing involves a range of codes—from commonly used Medicare codes to unique codes used by private payors. This booklet provides helpful examples and tips for coding and billing practices used by physicians and billing managers for diabetes education that is provided by diabetes educators including:
- Private Payor and Medicare Coverage and Reimbursement for Diabetes Education
- Coding for Diabetes Education
- CPT Codes for Diabetes Education
- Evaluation and Management (E&M)
- Services that are ―incident to a visit
- Devices and related therapy/training
- HCPCS Procedure Codes including S Codes
- ICD-9-CM including E and V codes
- Billing for Devices and Related Therapy
Basics of DSMT Reimbursement
Reimbursement for DSMT depends on the policies of the payor as well as the location in which the services are provided. Health plans may cover all diabetes education/training provided under a physician‘s supervision to patients with type 1, type 2, gestational diabetes, non-dialysis kidney disease, and post-kidney transplants.
- Once the DSMT-accredited program receives accreditation, providers must notify and send accreditation certificates to their Medicare Administration Contractor (MAC). The same process should be completed for the state Medicaid program.
- All sites of service (i.e. FQHC, physician office, hospital, etc.) should use CPT codes G0108 and G0109 when billing Medicare for DSMT.
- Billing for DSMT is done under the NPI of the program. Although RNs and CDEs can provide DSMT as members of the accredited program – their services are billed under the NPI of the program. DSMT is not considered to be incident-to.
- All sites of service are subject to the same Medicare criteria for coverage (i.e. diagnosis of diabetes) and covered hours (10 hours in the initial year and 2 hours in subsequent years).
- It is important that Diabetes Educators and program managers work closely with their business office/finance team to ensure billing is done correctly and claims are processed appropriately.
Outsourcing Primary Care Billing to MBC
MedicalBillersandCoders (MBC) is a leading medical billing company providing complete revenue cycle services. Our team keeps a close watch on revised billing guidelines to ensure accurate insurance reimbursements. To know more about Role of Primary Care Practitioner in DSMT, Contact us at info@medicalbillersandcoders.com/ 888-357-3226
