Otolaryngology Coding Alert

Question: Our multispecialty practice is considering hiring an audiologist. She may perform hearing testing on days when a physician from another specialty, such as ophthalmology, is in the office and the otolaryngologist is in the OR. Does the physician have to be an ENT doc, or in our case, can the ophthalmologist be the MD? Pennsylvania Subscriber Answer: A qualified audiologist can perform audiological diagnostic testing and hearing aid servicing without a supervising physician, so the physician's specialty does not come into play. Medicare defines a qualified audiologist as one who has her master's or doctoral degree in audiology and either has a state license (in a state that licenses audiologists) or has completed the practicum, performance, and exam requirements necessary (in a state that does not license audiologists) (Pennsylvania does license audiologists). If you're talking about the physician's role as the referring physician, the physician could be from another [...]