RA Messages for December 11, 2001

PHARMACY PROVIDERS, PLEASE NOTE!!!

IF YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT THE COVERAGE OF A DRUG PRODUCT, PLEASE CONTACT THE PBM HELP DESK AT 1-800-648-0790.

PLEASE MAKE THE FOLLOWING CHANGES TO THE 12/9/00 VERSION OF APPENDIX C:

LABELER COMPANY BEGIN END
49580 AARON INDUSTRIES, INC.   01/01/02
51875 ROYCE LABORATORIES, INC.   01/01/02
52189 INVAMED, INC.   01/01/02
59004 WHITBY PHARMACEUTICALS (WINDSOR PHARM.)    
62109 WATSON LABORATORIES, INC.   01/01/02
65772 LINK PHARMACEUTICAL 01/01/02  

IF YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT THE COVERAGE OF A DRUG PRODUCT, PLEASE CONTACT THE PBM HELP DESK AT 1-800-648-0790.

PHARMACY POS PROVIDERS:

POS CLAIM PROCESSING WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, FROM 11 P.M. TO 3 A.M. SATURDAY MORNING AND SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 10 P.M. TO 6 A.M. SUNDAY DUE TO SYSTEM UPGRADE INSTALLATIONS.  CLAIMS PROCESSING WITHIN THIS TIME PERIOD MAY BE SUBMITTED UPON ACTIVATION OF POS SYSTEM. 

NOTICE TO AUDIOLOGISTS AND OTHER PROVIDERS OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

THE MEDICAID PROGRAM WAS ASKED RECENTLY TO CONSIDER ALLOWING A TECHNICIAN, UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF AN AUDIOLOGIST, TO PERFORM NEWBORN HEARING SCREENINGS WITH PAYMENT BEING MADE TO THE AUDIOLOGIST FOR THE SUPERVISION OF THIS SERVICE. AFTER DUE CONSIDERATION, THE PROGRAM HEREBY ANNOUNCES THAT ITS CURRENT POLICY OF REIMBURSING ONLY AUDIOLOGISTS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF NEWBORN HEARING SCREENINGS SHALL REMAIN IN EFFECT. IN OTHER WORDS, ONLY AUDIOLOGISTS WILL BE REIMBURSED FOR SCREENING NEWBORNS FOR HEARING PROBLEMS. TECHNICIANS SHALL NOT PERFORM THIS SERVICE ON MEDICAID RECIPIENTS NOR SHALL AUDIOLOGISTS BE REIMBURSED FOR THE SUPERVISION OF TECHNICIANS PERFORMING THIS SERVICE ON MEDICAID 
RECIPIENTS. 

ATTENTION ALL MEDICAID PROVIDERS

THE ANNUAL STATEWIDE PROVIDER TRAINING WORKSHOPS HAVE CONCLUDED. IF YOU FAILED TO ATTEND, YOU SHOULD REQUEST COPIES OF THE TRAINING MANUALS BY CALLING PROVIDER RELATIONS TOLL FREE AT 1-800-473-2783 OR 924-5040 IN THE BATON ROUGE AREA. ALL PROVIDERS MUST COMPLY WITH POLICIES CONTAINED IN THE TRAINING MANUALS. IN ADDITION, AL OF THE PROVIDER UPDATES DATING BACK TO FEBRUARY 1991 CAN BE LOCATED AT THE WEB SITE AT WWW.LAMEDICAID.COM. 

NOTICE TO ALL PROVIDERS

EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 1, 2001, OBSTETRICAL AND PRENATAL SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH A PREGNANCY DIAGNOSIS ARE EXEMPT FROM THE COMMUNITYCARE REFERRAL PROCESS. QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS CHANGE MAY BE DIRECTED TO UNISYS PROVIDER RELATIONS AT 800-473-2783. 

NOTICE TO CERTIFIED NURSE PRACTITIONERS

EFFECTIVE WITH DATE OF SERVICE NOVEMBER 1, 2001, THE FOLLOWING CPT CODES WILL BE ADDED TO THE LIST OF CODES THAT REQUIRE A QW MODIFIER: 83001QW - GENUA MENOPAUSE MONITOR TEST. 82570QW - CREATININE PERFORMED BY THE BAYER DIAGNOSTICS/MICROALBUSTIX REAGENT STRIP. 84460QW - CHOLESTECH LDX ALANINE AMINOTRANSFERASE (ALT) TEST. 

NOTICE TO PROVIDERS

THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES (CMS) HAS ISSUED AN ALERT REGARDING THE RECALL OF BAXTER INTERNATIONAL RENAL DIALYZERS. FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS RECALL, YOU MAY CONTACT BAXTER INTERNATIONAL AT THE CENTER FOR ONE BAXTER AT 1-800-422-9837 OR 847-948-4770 (MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM CST)

ATTENTION ALL MEDICAID PROVIDERS

IN THE INITIAL PRINTING OF THE 2001 PROVIDER TRAINING PACKETS, CHIROPRACTIC SERVICES WAS INADVERTENTLY LEFT OFF THE LIST OF COMMUNITYCARE EXEMPT SERVICES. THIS ERROR WAS CORRECTED AS ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THESE PACKETS WERE PRINTED. PLEASE CHECK YOUR 2001 TRAINING PACKET(S). IF THE COMMUNITYCARE SECTION IS IN YOUR PACKET, AND IF YOU HAVE A PACKET THAT DID NOT LIST CHIROPRACTIC SERVICES UNDER THE EXEMPT SERVICES SEGMENT OF THIS SECTION, PLEASE ADD THIS INFORMATION TO YOUR PACKET.