skip to content
Thank you for visiting First Coast Service Options' Medicare provider website. This website is intended exclusively for Medicare providers and health care industry professionals to find the latest Medicare news and information affecting the provider community.
To enable us to present you with customized content that focuses on your area of interest, please select your preferences below:
Select which best describes you:
Select your location:
Select your line of business:

By clicking Continue below you agree to the following:

LICENSE FOR USE OF "PHYSICIAN'S CURRENT PROCEDURAL TERMINOLOGY" (CPT), FOURTH EDITION End User/Point and Click Agreement: CPT codes, descriptions and other data only are copyright 2022 American Medical Association (AMA).

All Rights Reserved (or such other date of publication of CPT). CPT is a trademark of the AMA.
You, your employees, and agents are authorized to use CPT only as contained in the following authorized materials:
Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs),
Local Medical Review Policies (LMRPs),
Bulletins/Newsletters,
Program Memoranda and Billing Instructions,
Coverage and Coding Policies,
Program Integrity Bulletins and Information,
Educational/Training Materials,
Special mailings,
Fee Schedules;

internally within your organization within the United States for the sole use by yourself, employees and agents. Use is limited to use in Medicare, Medicaid, or other programs administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), formerly known as Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). You agree to take all necessary steps to insure that your employees and agents abide by the terms of this agreement. Any use not authorized herein is prohibited, including by way of illustration and not by way of limitation, making copies of CPT for resale and/or license, transferring copies of CPT to any party not bound by this agreement, creating any modified or derivative work of CPT, or making any commercial use of CPT. License to use CPT for any use not authorized here in must be obtained through the AMA, CPT Intellectual Property Services, 515 N. State Street, Chicago, IL 60610. Applications are available at the AMA website. Applicable FARS/DFARS restrictions apply to government use.

AMA Disclaimer of Warranties and Liabilities CPT is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. No fee schedules, basic unit, relative values or related listings are included in CPT. The AMA does not directly or indirectly practice medicine or dispense medical services. The responsibility for the content of this file/product is with CMS and no endorsement by the AMA is intended or implied. The AMA disclaims responsibility for any consequences or liability attributable to or related to any use, non-use, or interpretation of information contained or not contained in this file/product. This agreement will terminate upon notice if you violate its terms. The AMA is a third party beneficiary to this agreement.

CMS Disclaimer: The scope of this license is determined by the AMA, the copyright holder. Any questions pertaining to the license or use of the CPT must be addressed to the AMA. End Users do not act for or on behalf of the CMS. CMS DISCLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY LIABILITY ATTRIBUTABLE TO END USER USE OF THE CPT. CMS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIMS ATTRIBUTABLE TO ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR OTHER INACCURACIES IN THE INFORMATION OR MATERIAL CONTAINED ON THIS PAGE. In no event shall CMS be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of the use of such information or material.

AMA - U.S. Government Rights

This product includes CPT which is commercial technical data and/or computer data bases and/or commercial computer software and/or commercial computer software documentation, as applicable which were developed exclusively at private expense by the American Medical Association, 515 North State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60610. U.S. Government rights to use, modify, reproduce, release, perform, display, or disclose these technical data and/or computer data bases and/or computer software and/or computer software documentation are subject to the limited rights restrictions of DFARS 252.227-7015(b)(2)(June 1995) and/or subject to the restrictions of DFARS 227.7202-1(a)(June 1995) and DFARS 227.7202-3(a )June 1995), as applicable for U.S. Department of Defense procurements and the limited rights restrictions of FAR 52.227-14 (June 1987) and/or subject to the restricted rights provisions of FAR 52.227-14 (June 1987) and FAR 52.227-19 (June 1987), as applicable, and any applicable agency FAR Supplements, for non-Department Federal procurements.

ADA CURRENT DENTAL TERMINOLOGY, (CDT)
End User/Point and Click Agreement: These materials contain Current Dental Terminology (CDTTM), Copyright © 2016 American Dental Association (ADA). All rights reserved. CDT is a trademark of the ADA.

THE LICENSE GRANTED HEREIN IS EXPRESSLY CONDITIONED UPON YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS CONTAINED IN THIS AGREEMENT. BY CLICKING ON THE BUTTON LABELED "ACCEPT", YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED TO ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH HEREIN, CLICK ON THE BUTTON LABELED "DECLINE" AND EXIT FROM THIS COMPUTER SCREEN.

IF YOU ARE ACTING ON BEHALF OF AN ORGANIZATION, YOU REPRESENT THAT YOU ARE AUTHORIZED TO ACT ON BEHALF OF SUCH ORGANIZATION AND THAT YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT CREATES A LEGALLY ENFORCEABLE OBLIGATION OF THE ORGANIZATION. AS USED HEREIN, "YOU" AND "YOUR" REFER TO YOU AND ANY ORGANIZATION ON BEHALF OF WHICH YOU ARE ACTING.

Subject to the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement, you, your employees and agents are authorized to use CDT only as contained in the following authorized materials and solely for internal use by yourself, employees and agents within your organization within the United States and its territories. Use of CDT is limited to use in programs administered by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). You agree to take all necessary steps to ensure that your employees and agents abide by the terms of this agreement. You acknowledge that the ADA holds all copyright, trademark and other rights in CDT. You shall not remove, alter, or obscure any ADA copyright notices or other proprietary rights notices included in the materials.

Any use not authorized herein is prohibited, including by way of illustration and not by way of limitation, making copies of CDT for resale and/or license, transferring copies of CDT to any party not bound by this agreement, creating any modified or derivative work of CDT, or making any commercial use of CDT. License to use CDT for any use not authorized herein must be obtained through the American Dental Association, 211 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611. Applications are available at the ADA website.

Applicable Federal Acquisition Regulation Clauses (FARS)\Department of restrictions apply to Government Use.

ADA DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIABILITIES: CDT is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. No fee schedules, basic unit, relative values or related listings are included in CDT. The ADA does not directly or indirectly practice medicine or dispense dental services. The sole responsibility for the software, including any CDT and other content contained therein, is with (insert name of applicable entity) or the CMS; and no endorsement by the ADA is intended or implied. The ADA expressly disclaims responsibility for any consequences or liability attributable to or related to any use, non-use, or interpretation of information contained or not contained in this file/product. This Agreement will terminate upon notice to you if you violate the terms of this Agreement. The ADA is a third party beneficiary to this Agreement.

CMS DISCLAIMER: The scope of this license is determined by the ADA, the copyright holder. Any questions pertaining to the license or use of the CDT should be addressed to the ADA. End Users do not act for or on behalf of the CMS. CMS DISCLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY LIABILITY ATTRIBUTABLE TO END USER USE OF THE CDT. CMS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIMS ATTRIBUTABLE TO ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR OTHER INACCURACIES IN THE INFORMATION OR MATERIAL COVERED BY THIS LICENSE. In no event shall CMS be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of the use of such information or material.

End Disclaimer


This website provides information and news about the Medicare program for health care professionals only. All communication and issues regarding your Medicare benefits are handled directly by Medicare and not through this website. For the most comprehensive experience, we encourage you to visit Medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE. In the event your provider fails to submit your Medicare claim, please view these resources for claim assistance.
Join eNews       En Español
Text Size:
YouTube LinkedIn Email Print
Send a link to this page
[Multiple email addresses must be separated by a semicolon.]
Last Modified: 11/7/2024 Location: FL, USVI Business: Part B

Florida and U.S. Virgin Islands Part B POE-AG minutes – November 21, 2024

Jurisdiction N
Medicare Part B
November 21, 2024

Welcome and introductions

Janice Mumma, Supervisor, welcomed the members and reviewed current committee guidelines.
Janice advised the purpose of the POE AG is to assist the contactor in the creation, implementation, and review of provider education events. We conduct this meeting to allow provider feedback on training topics, provider education materials, dates, and times of provider education events.

Prior quarter activities

The group discussed the attendance at the prior webinars. The top and low attended prior quarter activities were reviewed, and feedback was requested.
Positive feedback was received on the webinars that we are hosting.
A comment was received saying that they were surprised at the low attendance. Janice asked for any suggestions on how to get the word out on our education and how we can get our attendance numbers up. Any suggestions can be sent to Janice for consideration. Janice also advised that we do record a lot of our webinars, so if you are unable to attend, you are able to get the information out on our website.

Next quarter activities

The upcoming activities for the remainder of November 2024 were reviewed. December calendar is posted, and the January 2025 calendar is in development. A comment was received advising that there is a major AMA conference during November, and it was asked if we could consider not holding any major events during this time frame. Janice advised that we would take this into consideration and try to block of these dates for 2025 events.

CMS activities

Janice reviewed the CMS website homepage, search feature, CMS Newsroom Press Release, external link and 2024 Transmittals external link. Please email Janice Mumma at Janice.mumma@novitas-solutions.com, if you would like any additional information or would like to see education regarding any of the items listed on any of the pages discussed.

Comprehensive error rate testing (CERT)

The CERT information on the First Coast website was reviewed. First Coast has compiled resources and developed checklists to help guide you when responding to CERT documentation requests. The CERT information is used to build many of the POE presentations and articles. Healthcare providers retain responsibility to submit complete and accurate documentation upon request to Medicare. Additionally, there is an all-MAC CERT education task force. This team has developed a lot of educational articles, booklets, and videos to help you through the CERT process. You can access these materials on the CERT center of our website.

StayConnected workshops

We will continue to offer the StayConnected workshop series in 2024. StayConnected workshops consist of multiple webinars over a one-week span that are topic specific. We will be offering the New Provider workshop in December.

Social media

First Coast is active in social media. LinkedIn and YouTube are live. Subscribe today and please promote these social media tools to your colleagues.

On-Demand training

First Coast has a wide array of on-demand learning resources. These resources are intended for you to participate in Medicare education at your own pace, on your schedule. Check out recent postings.

How to Prepare for Fiscal Year (FY)/Calendar Year (CY) 2025

The end of the year is coming, which means FY/CY 2025 is on the horizon. For final rules such as the Medicare Physicians Fee Schedule, you can access the CMS Newsroom for updates. Make sure you subscribe to the CMS MLN Connects Newsletter to stay up to date on all Medicare news.

Medical Review - Additional Documentation Request (ADR)

Additional Documentation Request denials are direct results of a pre-pay review. Ensure your contact information is current with the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC). The CERT additional documentation request (ADR) letters are sent to the provider’s address on file with the MAC found under the “Medical Record Corresponding Mailing Address" in PECOS. Search “ADR” for instructions on the methods to submit the requested documentation.

Important Update for Sole Owner Groups Submitting Revalidation Applications

Effective August 14, 2024, you must submit a CMS-855B application to revalidate the groups enrollment. Submission of a CMS-855I application is no longer required and will be returned if submitted via PECOS. For more information, visit our Provider Enrollment Center.

Discuss Preventive Services with Your Patient

Providers play a crucial role in promoting, providing, and educating Medicare patients about potentially life-saving preventive services and screenings. Ensure your Medicare patients take advantage of Medicare-covered preventive services. Medicare covers many preventive services for eligible patients and there are some screenings and shots that are at little or no cost to Medicare beneficiaries. Talk with your patient to explain the new screenings that were added. Learn more about billing for Medicare-covered preventive services on the CMS website external link.

Interactive Preventive Services Tool

CMS has a great tool external link online for preventive services. When this tool is accessed, click on the preventive service and you’ll find everything you need to know about billing that particular service. If you see a T denoted, then that indicates the service may be billed as telehealth.

Influenza Vaccine Payment Allowances – Amount Update for 2024 – 2025 Season

A recurring CR was released that notifies providers that the payment allowances for the seasonal influenza virus vaccine are available. Allowable amounts are available on the CMS website external link.

Heart Health

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups. Heart disease includes hypertension, coronary artery disease, heart failure, and stroke. Risk factors include overweight, obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure, family history, and older age. Medicare covers cardiovascular disease screening tests, and your patients pay nothing if you accept assignment. For more information on heart disease, visit the CMS website external link.

Open discussion

Suggestions on topics, dates and times can be emailed to Janice.Mumma@novitas-solutions.com.
A question was received asking if Medicare has changed the CPT code for telemedicine, and they are receiving conflicting information. Cesar advised that the final rule was finalized earlier this month, and another press release was just recently released. They have not authorized the changes yet, so that may be why we have not issued specific 2025 information yet. The official release will be December 7, but it is posted to the CMS website external link already.
Our 2025 POE AG meeting dates are in development.
First Coast Service Options (First Coast) strives to ensure that the information available on our provider website is accurate, detailed, and current. Therefore, this is a dynamic site and its content changes daily. It is best to access the site to ensure you have the most current information rather than printing articles or forms that may become obsolete without notice.