On January 1st , 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a program transmittal indicating the “QR” modifier has been deleted and a “Q0” (zero) modifier has been added. These modifiers are used for outpatient hospital and physician claims when implanting Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD) for primary prevention clinical indication s (i.e., patients without a history of cardiac arrest or spontaneous arrhythmia) . To obtain reimbursement for primary prevention clinical indications Medicare national coverage policy requires that providers implanting Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD) report data on each primary prevention ICD procedure. The “Q0” (zero) modifier should be used in the same way that the “QR” modifier was previously used and is to be used for services on or after January 1, 2008.1
1 HRS update available at: http://www.hrsonline.org/Policy/ICDRegistry/q0_modifier.cfm
