Did you know that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) let the public offer their comments and ideas regarding important billing codes? The web sites below provide information on important meetings concerning new 2006 healthcare procedure coding system (HCPCS) codes.

Proposed 2006 HCPCS Codes are Now Open for Comments

The HCPCS CMS web site http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicare/hcpcs/default.asp recently published for public comment listings of the Proposed 2006 new and revised Drugs, Radiopharmaceutical & Radiologic Imaging Agents. The lists are found under the topic HCPCS Public Meetings. More than 50 radiopharmaceuticals are included, along with several drugs and imaging agents. Comments about proposed HCPCS codes can be made June 14-15 at the open meetings, or they can be submitted via e-mail to HCPCS@cms.hhs.gov by June 13.

The Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) will be presenting further recommendations for many of these proposed HCPCS codes. As SNM's comments are sent to CMS, they will also be published on the Society's web site, www.snm.org.

Let your voice be heard. Your comments do make a difference. If you'd like to support the SNM recommendations, or submit your own thoughts, send them to HCPCS@cms.hhs.gov by June 13 EOB.

The CMS Proposed 2006 HCPCS Code recommendations can be reviewed at:

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicare/hcpcs/Drugsday1.pdf http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicare/hcpcs/Drugsday2.pdf