Wiki Critical Care coding -Urgent help

[jvalntine]

I'm coding for hospitalists. Dr. A was called for consult on post op HTN while patient was in ICU-- Dr. A coded 99291 and did not document time. Dr. B from same hospitalists group reviewed HTN tx with Dr. A on same date and documented cc time of 30 minutes. Should I only code for Dr. B since this doc documented time and code nothing for Doc A?
Thks!
J

 

[jmarjenhoff]

response

Critical care services can only be billed out if the physician is giving one-
on-one care to a patient during a life-threatening illness. Time from beginning
to end MUST be documented by the physician, or you cannot bill for critical
care. Remember-if it isn't documented, it didn't happen! Refer to the infor-
mation in your CPT book under critical care services.
-MBC professor

 

[FTessaBartels]

Dr A gets a consult

Depending on the documentation Dr A may be able to code a consultation. If there is no face-to-face critical care time documented then you cannot bill critical care codes. Also, just because the patient is in the ICU does not mean that the care provided by Dr A is critical care.

Look at the documentation and see if you can code a consultation.

F Tessa Bartels, CPC, CEMC