patient left before physical exam

[Colliemom]

If a new patient is seen, and becomes angry and walks out of the office visit before the physical exam is performed, can the physician still bill for the 15 minutes spent obtaining the patient's history?

 

[CodingKing]

Nope you wont be able to bill. New patient must have all 3 History, Exam, MDM. If you didn't get past history you are kind of out of luck when it comes to the insurance.

 

[GJackson]

If the documentation containts Gen Appearance and or Vital signs, documented, that would count as 1 phy exam elements. Therefore if you have a history and MDM would be straighforward... I problem, 0- data-Stfwd..

thanks!

 

[thomas7331]

If the physician did not complete an assessment and plan, I would not recommend trying to justify MDM and an E&M charge out of this. If the patient was angry, submitting a charge for payment would be an invitation for a complaint to the payer and isn't worthwhile. If your provider insists on charging for the time, the practice should have a policy to cover no-shows and situations like this which the patient would need to read and agree to before being seen. In that case, you could code A9570 for a non-covered service with diagnosis Z53.29 "Procedure and treatment not carried out because of patient's decision for unspecified reasons".