Wiki ER Consult, IP admission and discharge on same day

[dovejsd]

Physician did a consult in the ER and then admitted the patient to the hospital. Patient was leaving AMA, so they gave discharge instructions. All of this was on the same date. Should I bill a consult and then an admission/discharge on same date? Suggestions?????

 

[cedwards]

I would not bill a consult and an admit/discharge on the same day. I would just bill the admit/discharge on the same day code for this. Per CPT when a patient is admitted to the hospital as an inpatient in the course of an encounter in another site of service (such as ED) all E/M services provided by that physician in conjunction with that admission are considered part pf the initial hospital care when performed on the same date as the admission. I would use the work the physician provided as the consult and the admission note to determine my admit/discharge code.

 

[Lisa Bledsoe]

You might want to take a look at CPT codes 99234 - 99236 as they are for inpatient or observation admit and discharge on same date of service.