ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Careful: New 'middle day' codes could complicate your claims.There's something old and something new in multiple-day observation reporting this year, as CPT added a new code set to represent observation coding scenarios that last more than two calendar dates.Take a peek at this primer to make sure you're coding your multiple-day ED observation encounters correctly in 2011.Code 2-Day Stays the SameIf the patient is in observation for multiple days, you'll still choose a code from 99218-99220 (Initial observation care, per day, for the evaluation and management of a patient, which requires these 3 key components: ... ) to represent the first day of observation, confirms Carol Pohlig, BSN, RN, CPC, senior coding and education specialist at the University of Pennsylvania department of medicine in Philadelphia."Per CPT, 99218 to 99220 apply to all evaluation and management services that are provided on the same date of initiating observation status," Pohlig explains. These [...]