Welcome to the South Carolina Chapter ACC website. Our vision statement is "To improve the health and well being of South Carolinians through the support of cardiovascular specialists." Use the navigation buttons on the left to access our website. Please feel free to e-mail us if you have any questions or comments. LATE BREAKING NEWS: CIGNA Revises Modifier (-25 and -59) Policy CIGNA changed its policy to require providers to submit supporting documentation for any claims with procedures and services that are appended with a CPT modifier 25 or 59. As of April 20, 2009, CIGNA planned to require documentation for approximately 17,000 NCCI code pairs. After listening to numerous providers and professional medical societies including the American College of Cardiology and the AMA, CIGNA has decided to significantly reducing the number of NCCI code pairs for which it requires documentation to fewer than 500 (less than 5 percent of CIGNA's total claims). CIGNA will delay full implementation of this program until April 27, 2009. CIGNA will also provide helpful hints to ensure the supporting documentation physicians submit via fax or mail for these NCCI code pairs contains the appropriate information to successfully match the documentation with the electronic claim submission. In the meantime, please instruct physicians and their practice staff to check Box 19/Loop 3200 on their claim submission to indicate that they submitted supporting documentation. Supporting documentation can be faxed to CIGNA at (570) 496-2945 or sent via mail to the CIGNA address on the back of the patient’s ID card. Here are some important instructions for your practice: As of April 20: • CIGNA was pleased to report the mandatory submission of documentation for NCCI code pairs appended with CPT modifier 59 will be delayed until April 27, 2009. Beginning April 27, the list of code combinations that require supporting documentation for modifier 59 will be significantly reduced. • Documentation submission requirements for NCCI code pair edits appended with CPT modifier 25 will be active through April 24. Physicians and their practice staff must choose to either submit these code pairs with documentation or postpone submission to the following week. Physicians and their practice staff should remember to always appropriately document the performance of procedures and services prior to submitting a claim. Beginning April 27, the list of code combinations that require supporting documentation for modifier 25 will also be significantly reduced. Once the revised list is released, the ACC will highlight the code pairs most frequently billed by cardiologists. Please instruct your practice staff to keep visiting www.cignaforhcp.com for the revised list of which NCCI code pairs that will require supporting documentation with the claims submission when appended with a CPT modifier 25 or 59. For the complete list of current code combinations that require supporting documentation when modifiers 25 or 59 are billed, log in to the secure CIGNA for Health Care Professionals Web site (www.cignaforhcp.com) and select “Resources” then “Claim Editing Procedures.” The updated code combination lists will be available online prior to April 27. Physicians who are not currently registered for the CIGNA for Health Care Professionals Web site will need to complete the registration process to log on. They can go to www.cignaforhcp.com and select “Register Now,” located in the left side bar. New Governor Takes Office Charlie W. Devlin, MD, FACC (Columbia) officially assumed the reign as SC ACC Governor during a convocation ceremony at ACC '09 in Orlando, FL last month. Devlin has been on the SC Chapter’s Council since 1995 and served as the secretary/treasurer for the past five years. He has participated in the office based practice of the South Carolina Heart Center for 16 years.  He is currently the director of the Nuclear Cardiology department at SCHC.  Devlin primarily works at Providence Hospital.  Formerly the Chief of Staff, he is the current chairman of the Pharmacology and Therapeutic committee. Devlin is board certified in cardiovascular medicine and nuclear cardiology. He has been a founding member of American Society for Nuclear Cardiology since 1993.  Devlin is a fellow with the ACC, FACP, and  ASNC.  Congratulations to Dr. Devlin. We know the South Carolina Chapter will continue to prosper under his leadership. Devlin succeeds Michael Gold, MD, PhD, FACC from MUSC in Charleston. Gold remains on the Council for three years as Immediate Past President. 16th Annual Joint Meeting of the NC/SC Chapters ACC ~ Sept. 11-13, 2009 ~ The Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC It's not too early for making plans to return to one of the South's most famous and venerable resorts for our next annual meeting. Rooms are being held at the Grove Park Inn for the nights of September 11 & 12 for the special rate of $229.00 per night plus tax. You may reserve your room by calling 800-438-5800 or online at www.groveparkinn.com and following the "Reserve Online" link. Be sure to state that you are with the NC/SC Chapter ACC Annual Meeting. The cutoff date for the discounted rate is August 11, 2009. Reservation requests received after the cut-off date will be subject to space availability at prevailing rates. Check in is 4:00pm and check-out is 12:00pm. Golf tee times have been reserved for Saturday, Sept. 12. Additional activities and services available include tennis and the award-winning spa. For reservations, contact the tennis center at 800-438-0050 ext. 1045 and the spa at 877-772-0745. CardioSmart is a patient education site of the American College of Cardiology. CardioSmart's mission is to engage, inform, and empower patients to better prepare them for participation in their own care. They are committed to providing visitors to their site with accurate, un-biased information in an advertising-free environment. Click on the logo to visit the site and learn more about it. Click Here for the Brochure Click Here for the Patient Flyer Contact us: SC Chapter ACC 134 Collin Campbell Beaufort, SC 29906 Tel: 843-252-4709 Email: info@sccacc.org