# Daily Mgmt and Discharge



## lkoch829 (Feb 28, 2008)

Can one bill for a daily management (01996) and a discharge (99238) on the same day?  I need some clarification for our doctors.


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## criketz (Mar 4, 2008)

Do you work for Anesthesiologists?  I work for a group of Anesthesiologists but have never billed a discharge code, am I missing something?


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## LeslieJ (Mar 12, 2008)

*Daily Mgmt & Discharge*

No, you will not bill the 01996 and 99238 on the same DOS.

Anesthesiologists do not typically admit patients; this is done by other physicians, therefore they won't do a discharge.

On the other hand, If the patient is in for pain management procedures, for example: Sickle Cell crisis, and the anesthesiologist is managing the case and did the admit, it IS then conceivable that a discharge *could* be charged.

However, billing for both 01996 and 99238 is tantamount to billing two E/Ms on the same DOS and that wouldn't be done in this kind of setting, esp. w/these codes.

Leslie J

http://www.askleslie.net


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## lkoch829 (Mar 12, 2008)

Thank you both for your input.

My confusion is based on the discharge CPT wording.  It seems to me to include all services to discharge the patient, and that would logically include management of an epidural etc (code 01996).  However, I can't find an edit showing the codes shouldn't be billed together and CPT 01996 is not an E/M code proper (because its in the anesthesia section).  I err on the side of caution (ethically) here and advise that the codes are not billed together.  If you come across any documentation or literature regarding this, I would very much appreciate it!

Regarding the discharge issue, our anesthesiologists manage chronic pain which sometimes necessitates an admit or discharge service. They are not performing anesthesia in the formal, surgical sense in this case.


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