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I work in a family practice clinic, and one of my doctors sees a lot of patient with mental issues and she would like to know if there is a specific code that should be used for Psych intakes. Any input would be great. Thanks.
They tend to be new patients, and she goes over all of the psychiatric history and complaints, past diagnoses, and usually spends a long time with the patient, counseling and making the decisions as to what medications the patient need and such.
She seems to think that there is some other way of billing it besides just billing out an office visit.
I am confused because it seems to me that it is just an office visit. I just thought maybe someone who has coded for a psychiatric clinic would know.
Perhaps. I'd be hesitant to recommend 90801--your provider isn't a psychiatrist, so there could be a question surrounding her credentialing and qualification to perform that.
If this is face-to-face time with the patient, I'd recommend documenting her time spent with the patient and that greater than 50% was spent in counseling (if that is indeed going on) and code E/M codes for that. While other options exist, I'm not sure those would accurately reflect the service she is performing.