A. Medicare Part B pays only for physician services that are not performed for the hospice-related condition. Services related to the terminal condition are billed by the Hospice facility to the appropriate fiscal intermediary (Part A).

Physician services not related to the hospice condition must be billed with modifier GV (attending physician not employed or paid under arrangement by the patient's hospice provider) or GW (service not related to the hospice patient's terminal condition).

A. No. This is no longer required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Guidance previously provided in the Medicare Carrier’s Manual, Section 4175 is no longer valid. This manual was replaced by CMS in 2003 with the Internet-Only Manual (IOM), Publication 100-04, Chapter 11 – Processing Hospice Claims.

Hospice facilities should discontinue the practice of submitting UB-04 claim forms to the Medicare Part B carrier to identify the election of hospice benefits.