Wiki mini-mental state questionaire

lsamith

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i work for a medical billing company and we have recently picked up new family physician. his office has a mini-mental state questionaire that is completed and documented by the nurse (the nurse gets all answers from patient), and then reviewed by the doctor. he uses this form as a pre-alzheimers work sheet check off list. he is wanting us to bill out for this service. i am just a little confused on how we can bill out for this service. any suggestions will be great.
 
I'm confused too. Is the MMSE a part of the general checklist that the patient fills out when they first establish or reestablish themselves with the physician? I don't see how he can bill this separately from an E/M service done on the same day which he should be the one to predominately perform. I know nurses do MMSE because they do it all the time for long term care insurance companies. It's done in the psych setting all the time. But that is not the same as having a family physician's staff do it and then the physician billing for it separately. What procedure code is he asking you to use? A psychiatric one? Most states won't allow a non-psychiatric practitioner to bill psychiatric codes. Is the MMSE a part of the general checklist that the patient fills out when they first establish or reestablish themselves with a physician? Let me know if I've gone off base.
 
It's included in the E/M billed that day. Counts as an exam component. I have several neuro docs who do this.

Belinda Holmes, CPC, CCP-P
 
Thank you Belinda. That is what I thought. They cannot bill separately just for the MMSE.
 
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