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PR Newswire
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16 July 1999
Newly Patented Tool Set Lets Health Plans Do CAM
Las Cruces, NM. Alternative Link is pleased to announce the award of a patent
(#5915241) for procedural billing codes covering Complementary and Alternative
Medicine (CAM) on June 22, 1999. This patent marks a turning point for CAM,
ushering its integration into conventional health plans by identifying and coding
CAM services using an approach already accepted for conventional medicine.
According to Melinna Giannini, Alternative Link's President and Founder, "These
codes level the playing field for CAM providers by letting them bill for services
in a language that conforms to current health plan practices. It also paves the
way for consumer access to CAM, which will save substantial costs over time."
To develop the code set, Alternative Link developed a new CAM classification system,
defined each procedure used by 13 CAM specialties and identified the rules in each
state governing its delivery. In 1998 the codes were accepted into the National
Library of Medicine's Unified Medical Language System. ANSI, the American National
Standards Institute, has voted the set into their most recent medical billing
implementation guide.
The Alternative Link codes will be useful to all health care players that process
CAM claims: providers, clearinghouses, routers, utilization management firms and
health plans. Health plans can incorporate CAM services into their benefits, avoid
liability by identifying which CAM services are allowable under state law, track
the efficacy of CAM services, and monitor the performance of CAM providers. CAM
caregivers can accurately describe their services for payment by health plans.
This remedies past practices, in which CAM services were coded on conventional
claims forms as variants ("unlisted procedures").
The company is now rolling out other product lines. They have modified the codes
for nursing services (The Nursing Intervention Classification (NIC)), reflecting
differences in state laws that broaden or restrict nursing practice, to bill for
nursing procedures under Medicare and Medicaid. This system is currently under
review for acceptance by the U.S. Health Care Finance Administration (HCFA). They
also are developing codes for several health care pharmaceutical and equipment
interests.
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