Report on Medicare Compliance 29, no. 23 (June 22, 2020):

◆ CMS has created a new point of origin (PoO) code, G, to indicate a transfer from a designated disaster alternative care site (ACS) because of changes in connection with the COVID-19 public health emergency, CMS said in a new MLN Matters (MM11836).^[1] “The National Uniform Billing Committee (NUBC) practice is to align Discharge Status Codes and PoO Codes whenever possible. It came to the Committee’s attention that there is a Discharge Status Code for Alternate Care Sites (ACS) but no specific matching PoO Code,” CMS said. “Make sure your billing staffs are aware of these changes.”

◆ The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on June 6 released HIPAA guidance^[2] on contacting COVID-19 patients about blood and plasma donations. “Generally, a covered health care provider may use PHI [protected health information] to identify patients who have recovered from COVID-19 to provide them with information about how they can donate their blood and plasma containing antibodies to the virus that causes COVID-19, to help treat other patients with COVID-19,” the guidance states.

1 CMS, “New Point of Origin Code for Transfer from a Designated Disaster Alternate Care Site,” MLN Matters, MM11836, June 12, 2020, https://go.cms.gov/2UEuWsQ.
2 Office for Civil Rights, “Guidance on HIPAA and Contacting Former COVID-19 Patients about Blood and Plasma Donation,” HHS, June 6, 2020, https://bit.ly/2YwHe7x.

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