Wiki time on preventative medicine counseling

smaher82

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I have a pt who was seen for preventative medicine counseling for only 5 mins. Can I chrge a 99401 for this?
 
I'll wager an opinion here.

As long as the counseling was not geared towards a specific illness or a symptom or was not performed as part of the patient's annual physical exam, then I think 99401 would be the correct code. The description of this code states "approximately 15 mins," so I think it can still be used for a 5 minute session. I would make sure that the time is indeed documented and the extent of the counseling provided is noted in the chart.

Hope this helps and again this is my opinion.
 
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