# Billing a new patient vs established patient



## kcaskey03 (Nov 15, 2011)

I work in at a family practice office, and we will be having a new doctor join our clinic next year. (this doctor is coming from a different area/location)  Assuming patients from this doctors previous clinic, transfer to our clinic to continue their care .... will these patients be consider new or established. This doctor will have a new tax ID number and would have never seen these patients before in our clinic.. I thought these patients would be considered "new."   I'm confused about this .. in questioning the face-to face services within 3 year period. Thank you to anyone for their input!!


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## btadlock1 (Nov 15, 2011)

kcaskey03 said:


> I work in at a family practice office, and we will be having a new doctor join our clinic next year. (this doctor is coming from a different area/location)  Assuming patients from this doctors previous clinic, transfer to our clinic to continue their care .... will these patients be consider new or established. This doctor will have a new tax ID number and would have never seen these patients before in our clinic.. I thought these patients would be considered "new."   I'm confused about this .. in questioning the face-to face services within 3 year period. Thank you to anyone for their input!!



They'd be established, if the same physician had rendered face-to-face professional services to them within the past 3 years, regardless of where he was before. Once he joins the group practice, he becomes "another physician of the same specialty who belongs to the same group practice", meaning that his established patients become everyone's established patients. These articles are helpful to understanding this:
http://www.aafp.org/fpm/2003/0900/p33.html
http://www.texmed.org/Template.aspx?id=5768


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