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Primary Care Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

Sick Visit + Work Injury: How Many E/Ms?

Published on Thu Mar 12, 2009

Question: A patient came in for medical illness diagnosis and had also hurt his finger. A Workers- Compensation employee later called and advised the coder to submit the finger claim to them. I have separate charts with documentation that reflects both tinea corporis as primary diagnosis and finger pain as secondary. For the same date of service, can I bill one office visit to the medical carrier and one to the Bureau of Workers- Compensation? Ohio Subscriber Answer: You-re on target with splitting the E/M portions. You can bill the non-work related sick visit to the commercial carrier and the work-caused injury evaluation to Workers- Compensation. Separate supporting documentation and super bills, as you indicate, are essential for correct coding and payment. Treat the claims separately. For instance, you would use 99201-99215 (Office or other outpatient visit -) for the E/M portion that treated the tinea corporis (110.5, Dermatophytosis of [...]
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