# Charging 99211 for pill counts



## Walker22 (May 25, 2010)

My office (pain management) prescribes many patients with narcotics. We see these patients once every 28 days for re-evaluation and Rx refills. Occasionally we call patients in between scheduled visits for random pill counts in order to make sure they are compliant. If we take their vitals and update the history, can we bill a 99211 for this visit?


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## sbicknell (May 25, 2010)

Are you asking about a 99211 for the phone call or for a nurse office visit?

No, you can't code for a 99211 for the pill-count phone calls.  There are E&M codes for nurse phone calls. Check out the codes 98966, 98967, 98968 and see if they apply to what you are doing and documenting

For the in-office eval and RX refill, yes, you can code a 99211 (only if the patient is not also seeing the physician the same day). Document the patient status (history, ROS), vitals, current dose and if any change in dose or any non-compliance.


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## Limbanidd2012@gmail.com  (Dec 27, 2018)

*pill count*

Help,

if patient is come for only pill count in office visit and patient is seen by doctor , so can we bill 99211 for this visit?


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## Pathos (Dec 27, 2018)

Even with a 99211, documentation must still show Medical Necessity with a History, and/or Exam, and/or Medical Decision Making.

Here are some good sources:

AAFP article on 99211 (note: it's from 2004)
AAPC article on 99211 (from 2015)
AAP article on 99211 (from 2016)

Hope that is helpful!


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