Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

Question: One of our ophthalmologists saw a patient in the morning for a LASIK evaluation. Then that afternoon the patient returned to see a different doctor, within a practice of several doctors, for a diabetes check that was not related to the first visit. Can we report both established patient visits? Minnesota Subscriber Answer: This is always a difficult problem for coders. In general, most carriers will not reimburse for two office visits on the same day -- especially if they are for the same condition or problem, and the patient is seeing two physicians from the same practice. In your case, however, there are different diagnoses. Carriers will likely question why the physicians could not see the patient for both the LASIK evaluation and the problem visit during the same office encounter. If the group of physicians is under one tax identification number, you will not be able to submit [...]