Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Let our experts help you avoid potential OIG scrutiny.Selecting outpatient E/M codes (99201-99215) may be a cakewalk for you, but watch out for the inpatient E/M coding minefields. Recently, the OIG sent CMS a list of 1,700 physicians who were identified as "consistently billing higher-level E/M codes in 2010." Consider these commonly-asked questions to get the lowdown on how to report your hospital services before the OIG starts looking at you.Physician Presence May Dictate CodeQuestion: Our physician saw a patient in the office, then admitted her to the hospital later the same day. Can we bill for the office visit and the first day of admission, or do we just bill for the hospital stay?Answer: The answer depends on whether the physician sees the patient on the same day in the hospital.Scenario 1: If the physician sees the patient in the hospital on the same day he saw her in [...]