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Louisiana Health Professional Shortage (HPSA) Area Listing
Please check the CMS Website at
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HPSAPSAPhysicianBonuses/ to determine
whether the HPSA bonus payment will automatically be paid for
services rendered in your area.
The payment files for the automated payment of the HPSA bonus
payment will be developed and updated annually. Once the annual
designations are made, no interim changes will be made to the
automated payment files to account for HRSA updates to designations
throughout the year. New designations and withdrawals of HPSA
designations during a calendar year will be included in the next
annual update.
For newly designated HPSA areas, physicians will be able to
receive the bonus by self-designating through the use of the AQ
modifier (Physician providing a service in a Health Professional
Shortage Area (HPSA)) must be submitted. They will also need to
submit the modifier for any designated areas not included in the
automated file due to the cut off date of the data used. This will
only be necessary if the zip code of where they provide their
service is not already on the list of zip codes that will
automatically receive the bonus payment. Physicians must not
continue to self-designate through the use of the modifiers for HPSA
designations that are withdrawn during the year, but are not part of
the automated files.
The following are the specific instances in which you will need
to enter a modifier:
- When you provide services in zip code areas that do not fall
entirely within a designated full county HPSA bonus area;
- When you provide services in a zip code area that falls
partially within a full county HPSA but is not considered to be
in that county based on the USPS dominance decision;
- When you provide services in a zip code area that falls
partially within a non-full county HPSA;
- When you provide services in a zip code area that was not
included in the automated file of HPSA areas based on the date
of the data run used to create the file.
Prior to the beginning of each calendar year, CMS will post on
its Web site zip codes that are eligible to automatically receive
the bonus payment as well as information on how to determine when
the modifier is needed to receive the bonus payment.
Please check the Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA) Website at
http://www.bhpr.hrsa.gov/shortage/ to verify your HPSA status.
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