# Nursing Home CPO....Please help!



## Cristy (Mar 1, 2009)

There was a wonderful article somewhere in this forum on CPO and it explain everything wonderfully and how to effectively and properly code G0181, however that does not include nursing home facilities.

My question is that our clinic is being bombarded with a great deal of "CPO" but it's for nursing home facility.  Doc is having to sign a great deal of "Physician's Telephone Orders" and sign off on "Physician's Orders" and it takes up quite a bit of his time.  Is there anything we can charge for all of this work???? 

Please help....I'm new and frustrated!  I spent hours last night sorting through piles of nursing home paperwork....please help!!


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## Cristy (Mar 1, 2009)

Cristy said:


> There was a wonderful article somewhere in this forum on CPO and it explain everything wonderfully and how to effectively and properly code G0181, however that does not include nursing home facilities.
> 
> My question is that our clinic is being bombarded with a great deal of "CPO" but it's for nursing home facility.  Doc is having to sign a great deal of "Physician's Telephone Orders" and sign off on "Physician's Orders" and it takes up quite a bit of his time.  Is there anything we can charge for all of this work????
> 
> Please help....I'm new and frustrated!  I spent hours last night sorting through piles of nursing home paperwork....please help!!





I understand the foundation of G0181....I just need to understand nursing home facilities and when and what you can bill non face to face time for.

G0181 requires complex or multidisciplinary care modalites involving:
* Regular physician development and/or revision of care plans;
* Review of subsequent reports of patient status;
* Review of related laboratory & other studies;
* Communication with other health professionals not employed in the same practice who are involved in the patient's care;
* Integration of new information into the medical treatment plan; and/or
* adjustment of medical therapy.

Care Plan Oversight Requirements:
* The provider who bills CPO must be the same provider who signed the plan of care.
* The provider may not have a financial or contractual relationship with the HHA.
* CPO may not be billed "incident-to"
* Providers billing for CPO must submit claim with no other services billed on that claim and may bill only AFTER the end of the month in which the CPO services were rendered.
* CPO services may not be billed across calendar months and should be submitted and paid only for one unit of service.


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## daniel (Mar 1, 2009)

I copied and paste this from this website. It was on another thread. Hope it helps.











A clipping from this article may help. 

http://www.acponline.org/clinical_information/journals_publications/acp_internist/oct96/avoidcod.htm

Care plan oversight services

At the July meeting of its Practicing Physicians Advisory Council, HCFA announced that a preliminary review of billing claims from New York state found improper reporting of the billing code for care plan oversight services, CPT code 99375.
The care plan oversight billing code allows physicians to bill for supervising the treatment of patients who are under the care of home health agencies or in a hospice or nursing facility and require complex care that involves regular supervision by the physician. HCFA found, however, that in about one third of the reviewed claims billing for oversight the dates of care did not match dates on claims submitted by home health agencies and hospices. In another third of the claims, physicians billed for care plan oversight services for dates patients were in the hospital. And some emergency medicine practitioners, radiologists and pathologists were billing for this service when they are clearly not the physician responsible for the patient's monthly care and recurrent supervision of therapy.
What are physicians doing wrong? Let's start by looking at CPT code 99375, which defines care plan oversight as: "... physician supervision of patients under care of home health agencies, hospice or nursing facility patients (patient not present) requiring complex or multidisciplinary care modalities involving regular physician development and/or revision of care plans, review of subsequent reports of patient status, review of related laboratory and other studies, communication (including telephone calls) with other health care professionals involved in patient's care, integration of new information into the medical treatment plan and/or adjustment of medical therapy within a 30-day period, 30-60 minutes."
CPT code 99376 describes the same services but requires physicians to have spent more than 60 minutes in a 30-day period.
To clarify who may be reimbursed for reporting care plan oversight services and under what conditions, HCFA has established specific payment rules (Federal Register, Vol. 59, No. 235, Dec. 8, 1994, pgs. 63418-63423). Here is a reminder of some of those rules and restrictions:
Physicians can bill for the oversight of patients already receiving Medicare-covered home health and hospice services but not for patients who reside in skilled nursing facilities or nursing facilities.
To receive payment in these settings, physicians—not a nurse practitioner or physician assistant—must perform the services themselves.
Only one physician per month can bill for this service per patient. To qualify for payment, the patient's plan of care must be reviewed and revised accordingly by the attending physician responsible for recurrent supervision of therapy.
To bill for care plan oversight services, physicians must have had a face-to-face encounter with a patient within six months of the first billing date. This ensures that the physician is actively involved in medical decision-making required to develop or modify the plan of care.
Physicians can bill for the service in the month following hospital discharge.
HCFA reimburses physicians for communications with other health care professionals involved in the patient's care, but will not pay for telephone calls to patients and family members. Physicians should document in the medical record which services were furnished and the date and length of time it took to provide those services.
Physicians who have a significant financial relationship with a home health agency, who are the medical director or employee of a hospice, or who provide services under an arrangement with a hospice can't be reimbursed for care plan oversight services.



Here is another good article

http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20031000/coding.html

Billing for nursing home work 
Q For my nursing home patients, I would like to bill for the time it takes me to answer the staff's questions, write the orders and do all of the paperwork for the patients. Although Medicare has care plan oversight codes, apparently these activities are not billable for nursing home patients. Is there any other way I can bill for this time-consuming care?



A Unfortunately, no. Medicare takes the position that payment for care plan oversight services provided to nursing facility patients is already bundled into the payment it makes for the nursing facility visits and other E/M services provided to these patients. Because Medicare views these services as "bundled," it does not permit the physician to separately bill the patient for them. http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20031000/images/end_bug.gif


Editor's note: While this department attempts to provide accurate information and useful advice, third-party payers may not accept the coding and documentation recommended. You should refer to the current CPT and ICD-9 manuals and the Documentation Guidelines for Evaluation and Management Services for the most detailed and up-to-date information.


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## Cristy (Mar 1, 2009)

daniel said:


> I copied and paste this from this website. It was on another thread. Hope it helps.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Thank you very much for responding!!!!  I really do appreciate it.

So....all in all~the answer is "No", he can not bill for the time of CPO for nursing home patients.  I'm surprised at this....it takes up a great deal of the doctor's time....and the nurses (correspondence).


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