We have two physicians in our practice. Physician A and Physician B share their intensive care unit (ICU) and operating room (OR) responsibilities. Physician A may care for an unstable, acutely ill inpatient overnight through noon the next day, and then turn over the care to his partner, Physician B, to care for the patient from noon through the next night. Physician A performs 1 hour of critical care time before noon, and Physician B provides another 30 minutes of critical care evaluation and management later in the afternoon. On other days, they may have the same arrangement for intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring (IONM). For example, four extremity somatosensory evoked potentials are set up as a baseline, and then monitored for six hours continuously online in real time from a monitoring room near the OR. Physician A monitors the potentials until noon, and Physician B takes over the monitoring after noon. How do these physicians code for their services? ...

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Note:  The following article synopsis was NOT provided by the AMA. It was created by Find-A-Code/innoviHealth.

Article Overview

This Find-A-Code article discusses shared-service billing scenarios involving critical care in the ICU and intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring during OR-related care. It is intended for physicians, group practices, coders, and billing staff who need to understand how time-based reporting is handled when more than one physician contributes to the same episode of care. The article presents a practical coding question and explains the relevant CPT reporting framework at a high level.

Why This Topic Matters

Shared-care arrangements are common in hospital and operative settings, and time aggregation can affect whether services are reported correctly. Understanding the applicable CPT framework helps practices align documentation and billing for physician handoffs and monitoring coverage.

Article Sections

1. Shared ICU and OR coverage scenario

   Introduces a time-sharing arrangement between two physicians across inpatient critical care and operating room-related monitoring. The scenario frames the reporting question for overlapping physician involvement.

2. Time-based reporting guidance

   Summarizes how the article addresses cumulative time reporting for the described services. The discussion spans critical care and intraoperative monitoring in a coordinated-care setting.

Codes Discussed

• CPT: 99291
• CPT: 99292
• CPT: 95938
• CPT: 95941

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