tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2005 Issue 11

READER QUESTIONS: Never Pass Up a Legitimate Consult

Question: The hospital asked my on-call surgeon to admit a patient. He spent one hour with the patient at the hospital but decided not to admit her. Normally, he sends patients from our office to the hospital, and I report an outpatient E/M. Should I use emergency department codes instead because the hospital contacted the surgeon?Montana Subscriber Answer: Yes, you could possibly report an ED service in this case, but first rule out the possibility that the emergency department visit qualified as a consult.If your surgeon took over the patient's care from the ED physician, you can...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci General Surgery Coding Alert.

Thank you for choosing Find-A-Code, please Sign In to remove ads.