Wiki Interventional radiology consultation

[umas86]

Hi, I work on Interventional radiology department E&M charges. Most of the visits are non face to face, referred by other department providers to consult about performing a procedure in IR. The reports are very vague .
For ex:
Inpatient consult
Case and imaging reviewed. Right TOA. Narrow window for potential percutaneous drainage. Will tentatively plan for drainage today. Keep NPO.
Thank you for allowing me to participate in the care of this patient. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions or concerns.
Total time spent managing this patient on the date of service (including but not limited to patient interaction, review of applicable labs and imaging, documentation, and communication with other providers involved in patient's care): 20 minutes
This visit is referred by OBgyn department.

The client states to bill these charges as "Interprofessional telehealth consultations with CPT 99446 - 99499", but as per billing guidelines of these CPTs these visits should not lead to a face to face service with in 14 days. But after these visits IR procedures are performed. Are these are to be considered as part of IR service or should I give credit for the 20 min documented. I am very much confused whether these are billable or not. Please help me out

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[jkyles]

From the CPT manual guidelines:

However, the consultant should not have seen the patient in a face-to-face encounter within the last 14 days. When the telephone/Internet/electronic health record consultation leads to a transfer of care or other face-to-face service (eg, a surgery, a hospital visit, or a scheduled office evaluation of the patient) within the next 14 days or next available appointment date of the consultant, these codes are not reported.

Related: Providers should avoid blanket statements like this in their documentation:

(including but not limited to patient interaction, review of applicable labs and imaging, documentation, and communication with other providers involved in patient's care)

If they're going to document time this way they should state what they did for the service.