Pediatric Coding Alert

Decembers You Be the Coder reported that an established patient office visit (99211-99215) should be charged for a 2-week-old newborn seen for a checkup at the pediatricians office. This answer assumes that the pediatrician will provide other services, such as a weight check or parent/physician counseling, in addition to the checkup. If, however, the pediatrician provides no other services beyond a routine checkup, the visit should be coded using the preventive medicine service code, CPT 99391 (note that most insurers limit the number of preventive visits allowed per patient per year). If the infant is seen for a sick visit or in response to parent concerns, codes 99211-99215 should be used.