Elimination of Grace Period for Discontinued Codes

CMS issued Transmittal 94 (published February 6, 2004) on the elimination of the 90-day grace period for discontinued ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes effective October 1, 2004. CMS issued Transmittal 89 (published February 6, 2004) on the elimination of the 90-day grace period for discontinued CPT and HCPCS codes effective January 1, 2005. Claims with discontinued codes will be returned as unproccessable after the respective policy effective dates noted above.