Reader Question: Know How ‘Regular Hours’ Are Defined

Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.

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

Article Overview

This reader Q&A discusses how a practice’s posted office schedule affects reporting of CPT add-on services for encounters that occur on holidays or outside normal business hours. It is aimed at coding professionals, billers, and practice staff who need a general understanding of when office-hours-related CPT guidance may apply and how it relates to E/M office visit coding.

Why This Topic Matters

Accurate interpretation of scheduled office hours can affect whether a special service code is considered for a visit, which is important for compliant coding and claim submission.

Article Sections

  1. Question

    The reader asks about reporting an office-hours-related CPT code for holiday encounters when the practice is open beyond its usual schedule.

  2. Answer

    The response discusses the general distinction between regularly scheduled office hours and time outside the posted schedule, along with related E/M visit coding context.

  3. Example

    A sample office schedule and same-day visit scenario is used to illustrate how the article frames office-hours-related coding considerations.

What You Will Learn

  • How posted office hours can affect CPT office-based service reporting
  • The general difference between regular schedule-based hours and time outside those hours
  • How office-hours guidance relates to E/M office visit coding
  • How an illustrative schedule example is used to frame the issue

Who Should Read This

  • Medical coders
  • Billing staff
  • Practice managers
  • Physician office staff

Codes Discussed

  • CPT: 99050
  • CPT: 99051

Code Ranges Discussed

  • CPT: 99201-99215

Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.

Keep pace with evolving Medicare regulations — and onboard your team — with timely analysis of critical updates interpreted in an easy-to-follow, easy-to-apply format. Your subscription to TCI's Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement Alert will equip you to navigate code and guideline changes, CCI edits, and revisions to modifiers, payer policies, the fee schedule, OIG target areas, and more.

  • Current newsletters added each month
  • Fully searchable archives - over 4200 articles
  • ALL years/issues back to 2003 organized by year and issue
  • Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
  • Code Information pages link back to related articles

This feature is currently unavailable for online purchase. For more information, please call 801-770-4203 or Contact Us.

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

Aimee- AI -powered coding assistant - Try it now for Free Would you like Aimee - AI
to help you with this?