tci Part B Insider - 2008 Issue 12

READER QUESTION: Document Time Spent on Counseling

Question: One of our insurers downcodes my E/M visits because the diagnoses don't support the service levels that I billed. But I coded these visits based on time, not E/M elements. How can I get paid for higher-level counseling visits? Answer: To prove that a visit qualifies for time-based E/M billing, make sure the documentation includes the ratio of the total visit time to the counseling time. This will show the payer that you spent most of the visit (more than 50 percent) counseling the patient and/or his family.Example: A 26-year-old patient recovering from a closed head injury...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci Part B Insider.


Keep pace with evolving Medicare regulations with timely analysis of critical updates interpreted in an easy-to-follow, easy-to-apply format. Your subscription to TCI’s Part B Insider will equip you to navigate code and guideline changes, CCI edits, and revisions to modifiers, the fee schedule, OIG target areas, and more.

  • Current newsletters added each month
  • Fully searchable archives - over 4800 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.

demo
request yours today
 subscribe
start today
 newsletter
free subscription

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