Primary Care Coding Alert

Question: Services such as phone calls to patients, filling out forms, and coordinating the patient’s care have become quite time-consuming for our physicians. Does CPT® include any procedure codes for these types of case management services? Oregon Subscriber Answer: Good news: CPT® does include an increasing number of codes that could apply to your situation. First, consider the 99441-99443 series (Telephone evaluation and management service provided by a physician to an established patient, parent, or guardian not originating from a related E/M service provided within the previous 7 days nor leading to an E/M service or procedure within the next 24 hours or soonest available appointment …) for telephone E/M services if you perform them. Remember, however, these codes are not simply for calling another clinician to chat about a patient’s condition. Rather, they are used for actual E/M services provided to the patient and performed over the phone. Other case [...]