In follow up to its September 13, 2002 Open Door Forum on billing for group therapy services provided under Medicare Part B, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS") recently posted eleven answers to "frequently asked questions" on its website. The Open Door Forum was convened to address CMS's Transmittal 1753 containing revisions to the Medicare Carriers Manual and adding a new Section 15302 regarding group therapy services. Despite receiving multiple inquiries based upon the Transmittal both before and after the Open Door Forum, CMS indicated that "the Q and As do not represent any change in agency policy and answers to these and other billing questions are readily discernible from the existing CMS issuances and other publications." The FAQs do provide some guidance on certain issues that were the subject of many questions at the Open Door Forum, such as appropriate billing for individual versus group therapy services, and appropriate billing for both group and individual therapy for the same beneficiary on the same date of service. The FAQs may be accessed at http://cms.hhs.gov/medlearn/therapy/faqinfo.asp.

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