New Patient Visit for Same Practice Subspecialist
- By John Verhovshek
- In Coding
- January 24, 2019
- 9 Comments
Question: A referring provider and subspecialist are in the same practice and bill under the same tax ID; however, the referring provider is an obstetrician/gynecologist,and the subspecialist is a gynecologist obstetrician. Can the gynecologist obstetrician bill a new patient visit?
Answer: Per the CPT® definition, a new patient is one who has not received any…
- professional services
- from the physician/qualified health care professional or another physician/qualified health care professional of the exact same specialty and subspecialty who belongs to the same group practice,
- within the past three years.
Let’s consider these requirements, one at a time.
In this context, professional servicesare face-to-face medical services. CPT® E/M Services Guidelines stress, “Solely for the purposes of distinguishing between new and established patients, professional services are those face-to-face services rendered by a physician and reported by a specific CPT® code(s).” The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapter 12 (30.6.7), confirms, “An interpretation of a diagnostic test, reading an X-ray or EKG etc., in the absence of an E/M service or other face-to-face service with the patient does not affect the designation of a new patient.”
Within the past three years is straightforward: If the gynecologist obstetrician specialist in question hasn’t seen the patient face-to-face within the previous three years, we’ve already met two of the three requirements to report a new patient visit.
The remaining condition, that if the provider is in the same group practice they must be of a different specialty or subspecialty, is the potential sticking point. Different payers may designate specialist and subspecialists in different ways, so you’ll need to know your particular payer’s rules (typically, the specialty/subspecialty designation is determined by how the provider was credentialed).
Medicare classifies “Allopathic & Osteopathic Physicians/Obstetrics & Gynecology, Gynecologic Oncology” (207VX0201X) as a subspecialty distinct from “Allopathic & Osteopathic Physicians/Obstetrics & Gynecology” (207V00000X). So, if we’re reporting to Medicare, and if we assume the gynecologist obstetrician is appropriately designated, they will meet the requirement of “different subspecialty” (for Medicare patients, you can use the National Provider Identifier (NPI) registry to see which specialty the physician’s taxonomy is registered under).
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The article states doc 1 is ob/gyn and doc 2 is gyn OBSTETRICIAN. However when you reference CMS specialties it states gyn ONCOLOGIST. Yes, a gyn ONCOLOGIST is a different specialty than ob/gyn. There is not a difference between ob/gyn and gyn/ob as your scenario is presented.
I don’t see the reference to Gynecologist/ Oncologist in the question. What is listed is Gynecologist/Obstetrician which would highly likely be considered the same speciality as Obstetrician/gynecologist – the referring physician.
Hi. Not sure I’m comprehending the article accurately. Are you stating that an “obstetrician gynecologist” and a “gynecologist obstetrician” are two different specialties? Could you please expound upon that further? One of the taxonomy codes listed at the end of the article mentions gyn onc, but I don’t see that specialty referenced elsewhere in the rest of the article. Was one of the providers in the scenario actually supposed to be referenced as a “gyn oncologist”? Thank you for any clarification you can provide.
Hi. Not sure I’m comprehending the article appropriately. Are you stating that an “obstetrician gynecologist” and a “gynecologist obstetrician” are two different specialties? I noticed one of the taxonomy codes mentioned above is for gyn onc, but that specialty isn’t mentioned elsewhere in the article. Was one of the providers in the scenario supposed to be a gyn oncologist perhaps? Thank you for any clarification you can provide.
This article is worded incorrectly, confusing the words obstetrician and oncologist, thereby giving incorrect information. Yes, a provider of a different subspecialty in the same group may bill a new patient visit. However, your question states the subspecialist is a gynecologist OBSTETRICIAN. Further, you define the taxonomy code of gynecologic ONCOLOGY. There is no taxonomy code for gynecologist obstetrician. Below are the taxonomy breakdowns falling under general ob/gyn 207V00000X.
Critical Care Medicine – 207VC0200X
Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery – 207VF0040X
Gynecologic Oncology – 207VX0201X
Gynecology – 207VG0400X
Hospice and Palliative Medicine – 207VH0002X
Maternal & Fetal Medicine – 207VM0101X
Obesity Medicine – 207VB0002X
Obstetrics – 207VX0000X
Reproductive Endocrinology – 207VE0102X
I think you had a typo in your article “Question.” You stated “the referring provider is an obstetrician/gynecologist,and the subspecialist is a gynecologist obstetrician.” I think you meant to say the subspecialist is a gynecologist oncologist.
does this same rule apply for a FQHC facility?
I would like clarification on physician assistant/CRNP new patient billing. This is assuming that we are in agreement that their specialty falls under the specialty of the group where they are working. A single physician assistant sometimes works at a specialty office, perhaps in Urology, and sometimes works at a family practice office. Both offices bill under the same tax ID. Is it new or established? I’m really hung up on this one because I don’t know how to prove it was a different specialty when its the same provider.
Does the primary taxonomy codes supersede all other taxonomy codes, when it comes to billing? Or does the highest level of specialty supersede? Or are they treated equally when billing, meaning if any provider, showing the same taxonomy code whether primary or secondary – a new patient code can only be billed once between the two of them.