tci Part B Insider - 2009 Issue 45

CONSULT ELIMINATION: New Modifier AI Allows Multiple Docs to Bill Initial Hospital Care

Modifier AI will denote the primary physician of record, now that consult coding is a thing of the past. CMS will no longer reimburse you for consultations effective Jan. 1, but your physicians will still collect for initial inpatient visits -- even if they didn't admit the patient -- thanks to a new modifier. In the past, only the admitting physician reported initial hospital care codes (99221-99223), and specialists who saw the patient separately often billed inpatient consults. New way: Now that Medicare won't recognize the consult codes, multiple physicians may report initial hospital care during a patient's visit...

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