Wiki Billing supervision of interns for Psych Testing.

[jcochran]

Hello,
We have 3 CP interns and 1 Fellow who are currently supervised in our practice.

We have recently run into a few questions that I am not 100% sure about.

These interns/fellows see clients for psychological testing and are supervised by a CP. I learned today that the CP that is supervising the psych testing is not necessarily the intern/fellows supervisor, so I believe that in the cross communication, some billing may have been sent out under the wrong supervisor. The intern supervisor and the pysch testing supervisor meet, however it is the testing supervisor who is directly involved in the psych testing.

My question is, does the intern supervisor still qualify to bill for services, even though the testing supervisor is the psych testing CP who is directly supervising the interns/fellow for the psych testing?

I was double checking the CMS guidelines and was unable to find the direct answer to this question.

Link Below
http://www.cms.gov/manuals/Downloads/bp102c15.pdf


Also, on page 96 I ran across something that was "interesting" to me.... It says that "Under the physician fee schedule, there is no payment for services performed by students or trainees."

I am perplexed by this to a point. I don't "think" this would include our interns/fellow, as they have their accreditation, but I would appreciate any feedback on this as well.

Thanks so much!!

 

[kevbshields]

Clinical psychology interns are students and the services are not billable (as psychologists). However, you may be able to capture the time as "technician" time, but I'd directly address that with your Medicare carrier.

The term "fellow" for psychology folks is quite different from Resident Fellows (who are MDs). Therefore, I'd reach out to determine if this "fellow" has a license to practice psychology in your state. If the answer is no, then those interpretation and administration services, too, would not be billable.

Personally, my guess is that any service provided by a student, intern or fellow of psychology is not billable. If, and only if a service is actually performed by a licensed psychologist (e.g., interpretation, assessment, etc), then it becomes billable. Otherwise your practice eats the costs of care.

I do hope this helps. Just know that Medicare's Teaching Physician Guidelines primarily relate to medical school graduates (licensed doctors) in residency. In health care we toss around the same terms, but they have very different meanings in each discipline.

 

[jcochran]

Thanks so much for the feed back. Would you happen to know where I can find further information regarding CP and interns?

Now I am totally worried that what I have been told is standard practice may not be. I never questioned my predicesor, however, now I want to know if I have been misinformed...

We currently bill for all 3 CP interns, the fellow, as well as 3 LICSW interns under their supervisor....

Thanks for your feedback!