tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2003 Issue 6

READER QUESTION: Same-Day Discharges Get Single Code

Question: One of our surgeons saw a patient in the hospital and coded the visit as 99233 (Subsequent hospital care ...). He noted in his documentation the patients problems and that later in the day her condition stabilized. He returned to the hospital the same day to arrange her discharge. Can I bill the hospital discharge code 99238 in addition to 99233, or am I restricted to using just 99238 because the surgeon discharged the patient the same day? Wisconsin SubscriberAnswer: You can bill only one hospital code: 99238 (Hospital discharge day management; 30 minutes or less). CMS addresses...

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