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Cardiology Coding Alert

Unlock E/M Payment With This Initial Hospital Care Rule

Published on Tue May 05, 2009

Solve the admit-on-day-1, visit-on-day-2 coding dilemma at last. When a patient is admitted to the hospital from another site of service on one date and seen by the cardiologist for initial hospital care the next date, the time you spend sorting through the guidelines to choose the proper date of service (DOS) can keep you from losing rightful dollars. Consider the following scenario offered by Dolly Cooper, CMC, and Brenda Mantia, CMC, with Cardiovascular Consultants, a 10-physician practice in Shreveport, La. Scenario: The patient is admitted at 11:57 p.m. on May 1 to the cardiologist. The cardiologist sees the patient in the hospital for the first time at 2:00 a.m. on May 2. What would you do? Would you choose May 1 or May 2 as the date of service for the cardiologist's visit? Match Your DOS Choice to the Authorities' Solution: May 2 is the correct choice. The DOS [...]
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