Pharmacists hope to bill under new medicare 'G' code: Payment would be for transitional care after hospital discharge

摘要

Will Medicare lock out pharmacists from its new post-hospital transitions payment program? That is not clear yet and might not be for some time, although the Centers ipr Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) says it will establish a new "G" code for such payments in calendar year 2013.The G code is the latest step by Medicare to tamp down hospital readmissions, many of which are preventable and all of which cost the federal government billions of dollars. In its 2007 report to Congress,1 the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), the quasi-government advisory group, found that in 2005,17.6% of hospitalized patients were readmitted within 30 days of discharge, accounting for more than dollar 26 billion in spending every year.