Wiki Can you bill Medicare when Patient is not present

[Kcook78]

So I have a physician who saw the son of her patient today. The patient could not be present. They talked about son's concerned parent is not taking medication correctly. The Dx used was Patient's Other Noncompliance With Medication Regimen- Z91.14
Can this be billed to Medicare? I do not see a stated time for counseling.

 

[thomas7331]

You cannot bill Medicare for E&M services if the patient was not present. Medicare has specifically stated that in the office, a face-to-face encounter is required, and only face-to-face time with the patient can be counted toward an E&M level. So if there was no time documented, and no patient present, you cannot bill this to Medicare.