Wiki Parent Visit/consult

[ssharp]

Can I bill for a visit with only the parents if the child is not present. They discussed medical concerns of the parent.

 

[mhstrauss]

Can I bill for a visit with only the parents if the child is not present. They discussed medical concerns of the parent.

The wording of the E/M codes "face to face time with patient AND/OR family" makes it sound like it is OK to for the patient to not be present, which is how we are interpreting it, and I've seen others say the same thing. However, not all payers will pay for this...Medicare will not. Check with your payers (some of our commercial ins will allow this), and get it in writing. If they won't, you'll have to inform the family beforehand that they will need to pay out of pocket for the visit--we do still at least give them the network discount, if the payer is contracted.

HTH!