Eli's Rehab Report
Inpatient Spinal Injury Evaluation
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North Carolina Subscriber
Answer: The short answer to your question is that V70.0 (routine general medical examination at a health care facility) would probably be the most accurate code for this visit. However, coverage for such a V code is questionable, and your claim will probably not be easily reimbursable without a more comprehensive reason for the visit. You want to avoid this being classified by the insurer as a well visit, which would fall under the preventive medicine guidelines and would not be payable. Contact the physician to determine whether there is a more specific reason that he or she admitted the patient to the hospital for an evaluation. Even though your notes indicate the patient had a spinal cord injury, there may be a more serious problem such as partial or late-effect paralysis (344.9).
Eli's Rehab Report
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Inpatient Spinal Injury Evaluation
Question: What kind of diagnosis code should I use for a spinal cord injury admitted [...] - Reader Question:
Family Conference
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J Codes With No Dosage Descriptors
Question: How should we bill pharmaceutical J codes whose long descriptors either do not include [...] - Reader Question:
Preventive Visit
Question: Our lead physician handles all of the coding in our PM&R practice, and I [...] - Reader Question:
Two X-Rays Performed by Different Practitioners
Question: In our facility, the radiologist usually performs all x-rays and interprets them. However, recently [...]