Internal Medicine Coding Alert
READER QUESTIONS:
Limit Your Follow-Up Consult Charges
Published on Sun Jun 26, 2005 
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Question: If the internist wants to follow up with a patient once a month after an initial consultation, what's the limit to the number of follow-up consults we can bill?
Montana Subscriber
Answer: You can't report consultation codes (99241-99275) unless another physician requests your internist's advice or opinion, or if the internist is providing the subsequent visits to complete the initial consultation, according to the Medicare Carriers Manual, section 30.6.10. In your case, your physician is initiating the follow-up visit, so you should report the appropriate established-patient code (99211-99215).
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Presented by Steven M. Verno, CMBSI
The following supplement to Internal Medicine Coding Alert is the [...]
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