ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Question: My group has been asked to begin providing hospitalist services in addition to covering the ED. Can we report an admission code in addition to our ED E/M visit if we are doing both services?

Delaware Subscriber

Answer: You can’t report both services for the same patient on the same day. CPT^® is very clear that when a patient is admitted to the hospital in the course of an encounter in another site of service, such as the ED or observation status, all E/M services provided by that admitting physician in conjunction with that admission are considered part of the admission care when performed on the same date. As such, they will be bundled into the admission and cannot be separately reported.