Orthopedic Coding Alert
Reader Questions:
New Patient Qualifications
Published on Sun Aug 01, 1999
Question: When can we bill for a new patient in the group? This patient had been seen previously by our physician, but not for many years?
Anonymous TX Subscriber
Answer: CPT defines a new patient as one who has not received any professional services from the physician or another physician of the same specialty who belongs to the same group practice, within the past three years. This is the accepted definition by virtually all carriers.
Other Articles in this issue of
Orthopedic Coding Alert
- Stave Off Auditors:
Benchmarking Coding Utilization Statistics Will Help Decrease Denials
Auditors stress that they want to see a bell curve when comparing statistics from an [...] - How to Code Consults within the Same Practice
If an orthopedic surgeon sees a patient for a consultation and then refers the patient [...] - Reader Questions:
Is an ED Vistit Included in Post-op?
Question: A patient, who had a endoscopic knee repair presented at the emergency department 10 [...] - Reader Questions:
New Patient Qualifications
Question: When can we bill for a new patient in the group? This patient had [...] - Reader Questions:
Billing X-rays
Question: One of our physicians bills for the interpretation of x-rays brought in with the [...] - Reader Questions:
Coding Counseling Time
Question: How can we bill for the time spent with the family discussing the patient? [...] - Reader Questions:
Using Modifier -57
Question: Is a modifier used when undertaking non-surgical as well as surgical treatment in the [...] - Reader Questions:
Defining Global Periods
Question: Who defines the accepted time for the global period? Medicare defines only 10 and [...] - Reader Questions:
How to Code Elective Surgery
Question: 1. When patients are admitted for elective surgery, is it proper to code with [...]
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