September 21, 2011 — According to the current Medicare system, if a doctor of chiropractic has reason to believe that treatment of a Medicare beneficiary for a particular treatment date is maintenance care (and therefore considered not reasonable and necessary and not payable by Medicare), the DC would have the beneficiary sign an Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN) prior to providing care.

The

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a revised version of the ABN, and mandated the use of this version beginning Nov. 1, 2011. Medicare will consider invalid all ABNs with a release date of March 2008 issued on or after Nov. 1, 2011.

To access the new ABN form and other information regarding ABN use for DCs, click here.

Source: American Chiropractic Association, www.acatoday.org