NON-MEDICAL NECESSITY COVERAGE AND PAYMENT RULES
For any item to be covered by Medicare, it must 1) be eligible for a defined Medicare benefit category, 2) be reasonable and necessary for the diagnosis or treatment of illness or injury or to improve the functioning of a malformed body member, and 3) meet all other applicable Medicare statutory and regulatory requirements. Information provided in this policy article relates to determinations other than those based on Social Security Act §1862(a)(1)(A) provisions (i.e. “reasonable and necessary”).
Intravenous immune globulin used for the treatment of primary immunodeficiency is covered under the Intravenous Immune Globulin benefit. (IOM 100-2, Ch. 15, §50.6) In order for a beneficiary’s equipment to be eligible for reimbursement the reasonable and necessary (R&N) requirements set out in the related Local Coverage Determination must be met. In addition, there are specific statutory payment policy requirements, discussed below, that also must be met.
Intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) is covered if all of the following criteria are met:
- It is an approved pooled plasma derivative for the treatment of primary immune deficiency disease; and
- The patient has a diagnosis of primary immune deficiency disease (See Diagnosis Codes that Support Medical Necessity section below); and
- The IVIG is administered in the home; and
- The treating practitioner has determined that administration of the IVIG in the patient’s home is medically appropriate.
If all of the criteria are not met and the IVIG is not administered with an infusion pump, the IVIG will be denied as noncovered - no benefit category.
If the criteria are not met and the IVIG is administered with an infusion pump, refer to the Intravenous Immune Globulin LCD.
Coverage under the IVIG benefit is limited to the IVIG itself, not to related supplies and services. If the IVIG is not administered with an infusion pump, related supplies will be denied as noncovered – no benefit category.
Codes J1573 and J2791 are non-covered. They are not indicated for the treatment of primary immune deficiency disease (#2 above).
Refer to the External Infusion Pumps LCD for information concerning coverage of subcutaneous immune globulin.
REQUIREMENTS FOR SPECIFIC DMEPOS ITEMS PURSUANT TO Final Rule 1713 (84 Fed. Reg Vol 217)
Final Rule 1713 (84 Fed. Reg Vol 217) requires a face-to-face encounter and a Written Order Prior to Delivery (WOPD) for specified HCPCS codes. CMS and the DME MACs provide a list of the specified codes, which is periodically updated. The required Face-to-Face Encounter and Written Order Prior to Delivery List is available here.
Claims for the specified items subject to Final Rule 1713 (84 Fed. Reg Vol 217) that do not meet the face-to-face encounter and WOPD requirements specified in the LCD-related Standard Documentation Requirements Article (A55426) will be denied as not reasonable and necessary.
If a supplier delivers an item prior to receipt of a WOPD, it will be denied as not reasonable and necessary. If the WOPD is not obtained prior to delivery, payment will not be made for that item even if a WOPD is subsequently obtained by the supplier. If a similar item is subsequently provided by an unrelated supplier who has obtained a WOPD, it will be eligible for coverage.
POLICY SPECIFIC DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS
In addition to policy specific documentation requirements, there are general documentation requirements that are applicable to all DMEPOS policies. These general requirements are located in the DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS section of the LCD.
Refer to the LCD-related Standard Documentation Requirements article, located at the bottom of this Policy Article under the Related Local Coverage Documents section for additional information regarding GENERAL DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS and the POLICY SPECIFIC DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS discussed below.
The supplier must enter a diagnosis code corresponding to the patient's diagnosis on each claim.
MODIFIERS
JW MODIFER
Effective for claims with dates of service on or after January 1, 2017, the JW modifier must be used when billing for discarded drugs and biologicals.
Multi-use vials are not subject to payment for discarded amounts of drug or biologicals.
Because of the HCPCS code descriptors and the associated UOS for DMEPOS items, the DME MACs expect rare use of the JW modifier on claims.
There are two scenarios that can occur:
Scenario 1
When the HCPCS code Unit of Service (UOS) is less than the drug quantity contained in the single use vial or single dose package, the following applies:
- The quantity administered is billed on one claim line without the JW modifier; and
- The quantity discarded is billed on a separate claim line with the JW modifier.
In this scenario, the JW modifier must be billed on a separate line to provide payment for the amount of discarded drug or biological. For example:
- A single use vial is labeled to contain 100 mg of a drug.
- The drug's HCPCS code UOS is 1 UOS = 1 mg.
- 95 mg of the 100 mg in the vial are administered to the beneficiary.
- 5 mg remaining in the vial are discarded.
- The 95 mg dose is billed on one claim line as 95 UOS.
- The discarded 5 mg is billed as 5 UOS on a separate claim line with the JW modifier.
- Both claim line items would be processed for payment.
Scenario 2
When the HCPCS code UOS is equal to or greater than the total of the actual dose and the amount discarded, use of the JW modifier is not permitted. If the quantity of drug administered is less that a full UOS, the billed UOS is rounded to the appropriate UOS. For example:
- A single use vial is labeled to contain 100 mg of a drug.
- The drug's HCPCS code UOS is 1 UOS = 100 mg.
- 70 mg of the 100 mg in the vial are administered to the beneficiary.
- 30 mg remaining in the vial are discarded.
- The 70 mg dose is billed correctly by rounding up to one UOS (representing the entire 100 mg vial) on a single line item.
- The single line item of 1 UOS would be processed for payment of the combined total 100 mg of administered and discarded drug.
- The discarded 30 mg must not be billed as another 1 UOS on a separate line item with the JW modifier. Billing an additional 1 UOS for the discarded drug with the JW modifier is incorrect billing and will result in an overpayment.
Effective for claims with dates of service on or after January 1, 2017, suppliers must add a JW modifier to codes for infusion drugs, only if all of the criteria in the “Coverage Indications, Limitations and/or Medical Necessity” section of the related policy have been met.
JZ MODIFIER
The JZ modifier will be effective for claims with dates of service on or after January 1, 2023, but will not be required for inclusion on claims until July 1, 2023. For claims with dates of service beginning July 1, 2023 or after, providers will be required to use the JZ modifier on claims for single-dose containers when there are no discarded amounts.
CODING GUIDELINES
If the IVIG is not administered through an infusion pump and if supplies are billed, code A4223 (INFUSION SUPPLIES NOT USED WITH EXTERNAL INFUSION PUMP, PER CASSETTE OR BAG (LIST DRUGS SEPARATELY) must be used for the supplies.
If the IVIG is administered through an infusion pump refer to the External Infusion Pump LCD and Policy Article for additional information.
Suppliers should contact the Pricing, Data Analysis and Coding (PDAC) contractor for guidance on the correct coding of these items.
