Tips on Coding for Phone Services
We’ve talked before about billing for phone visits. Only a few insurance companies will actually reimburse for this, but there are benefits to keeping track of calls. Here are the rules.
The basics:
- Telephone service applies ONLY to established patients that initiate the call.
- If the patient is seen with in 24 hours after the call, the telephone service code is NOT reported.
- If the call is about a previous E/M service (e.g. a previous visit) within the past 7 days or post op period the code can not be used, as the phone call is considered part of the previously reported E/M work.
Sounds pretty useless, right? Medicare does NOT reimburse for phone calls BUT will allow the physician to “consider” this in determining the level of the E/M code at the next visit. So, it does make good sense to document those calls, and consider them at the next visit. FYI: telephone codes for physicians (99441-99431) and non-physician practitioners (98966-98968).
Thanks modernmedicine.com for the tips!
Tags: coding, phone calls, physicians
