Coding Changes in 2022

On January 1, 2021, new coding changes were implemented that affected daily clinical practice. To find out whether any new changes are expected in 2022 and how they might affect dermatologists, Lawrence Green, MD, who is a board member for The Dermatologist and clinical professor of dermatology at George Washington School of Medicine, interviewed Mark Kaufmann, MD.

Dr Kaufmann is president-elect of the American Academy of Dermatology (AADA), the chief medical officer of Advanced Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery, and a clinical professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

Dr Green: We talked last year about all the changes in codes that you went through. Now, I would like to go through any updates for 2022 and what we need to know that is new. What has happened in 2021 to help us prepare better for 2022?

Dr Kaufmann: The good news is that there are not many coding changes in 2022. The major code changes that we went through last year, which were the evaluation of management codes, are still the same. So, there are really no coding changes to speak of. Reimbursement issues, though, have been a hot topic for some time now, as through legislation at the end of the year, we were able to help mitigate close to a 10% cut in reimbursement that we were supposed to face on January 1, 2022. Through congressional action, we were able to get that down to a maximum of 2.82% cut in the second half of this year.

Dr Green: Let’s talk about the AADA’s SkinPAC, which played a role in mitigating these cuts. Since dermatologists have supported SkinPAC, and people should continue to support it, we were able to help offset some of this thanks to our PAC.

Dr Kaufmann: I could not agree more. I think it is necessary, especially these days, but first I want to tell you what the 9.75% was all about. About 3.75% was a cut that we were spared the year before. Then there were additional cuts that were COVID-19-related because the sequestration, which represents 2% of cuts, was suspended during COVID-19. Now it is being phased in for 2022. So, there will be no sequestration cut in the first quarter of this year, but in the second quarter (from April to June), there will be a 1% sequestration cut in our reimbursement. Then from July through the rest of the year, and through the next decade or so, we will be facing a 2% cut from sequestration.

There was another bracket that contained a 4% cut known as PAYGO, which was one of the ways that they were going to help defer the cost of printing all the money for the stimulus during COVID-19. That was deferred along with the 3.75%, and sequestration remains. The problem is that, with these being deferred, we will be right back in the exact same place next year as we were in December 2021. So, in December 2022, we may be looking to avoid these cuts again.