ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Reader Question:

Consider Patient Age For Critical Care Transport

Question: Is anyone billing procedure codes for an emergency physician who rides with a patient from one ED to another, either via ambulance or helicopter? This is a new area that we are starting to see more often and we have no idea if there are such codes...any help would be greatly appreciated! Oklahoma SubscriberAnswer: If the physician is providing critical care services during patient transport, you would report that service for the time spent. The code choice will depend on the age of the patient involved. If the critical patient is pediatric, meaning 24 months of age or less, you'd report the physician's work in the ambulance/helicopter with 99466 (Critical care services delivered by a physician, face-to-face, during an inter-facility transport of critically ill or critically injured pediatric patient, 24 months of age or younger; first 30-74 minutes of hands-on care during transport) and 99467 (...each additional 30 minutes. [...]
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