Effective Date: October 1, 2008

Implementation Date: October 6, 2008

Change request (CR) 6186 informs Medicare contractors and providers that the integrated outpatient code editor (I/OCE) will be updated for October 1, 2008. The I/OCE routes all institutional outpatient claims (which includes non-outpatient prospective payment system [OPPS] hospital claims) through a single integrated OCE which eliminates the need to update, install, and maintain two separate OCE software packages on a quarterly basis. Claims with dates of service prior to July 1, 2007, are routed through the non-integrated versions of the OCE software (OPPS and non-OPPS OCEs) that coincide with the versions in effect for the date of service on the claim.

The integration did not change the logic that is applied to outpatient bill types that previously passed through the OPPS OCE software. It merely expanded the software usage to include non-OPPS hospitals.

The I/OCE instructions are attached to CR 6186 and will also be posted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Web site http://www.cms.hhs.gov/OutpatientCodeEdit/ .

Here is the link to the MLN Matters article MM6186 .