ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Question: A critically ill patient was seen by one emergency physician who documented 91 minutes of critical care time. Later that afternoon, a second emergency physician was asked to see the patient for hypotension, started a central line and documented 60 minutes of critical care time of his own. Do I add the critical care services together for the first physician and give the second physician credit for the procedure, or should I just report everything under the second physician? Maryland SubscriberAnswer: Two physicians of the same specialty in the same group will be deemed to be the same provider for Medicare critical care billing purposes when treating the same patient on the same day. In this scenario, you would add the critical care time together for 151 minutes, assuming there is a statement indicating the reported times not include placing the central line. Since the procedure was performed by [...]