Ash82
Networker
If a surgeon sees a patient and makes the decision for surgery and schedules the surgery a month out and the pre op appt for 2 weeks out, can you bill for that visit? I have always understood that once the decision for surgery has been made, you can't bill for that office visit regardless of if the pre op appt happened one day prior or a month prior to surgery. I just read an excerpt from MLN Matters which makes me think otherwise. It states: "Medicare includes the following services in the global surgery payment when they provide them in addition to the surgery: Pre-operative visits after the decision is made to operate. For major procedures, this includes preoperative visits the day before the day of surgery. For minor procedures, this includes pre-operative visits the day of surgery". Am I reading this correctly? My surgeons now want to bill for every pre op appt. If someone can provide me with documentation that states otherwise I would greatly appreciate it!