ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Question: What is the rule of supervision of a procedure in ED? Must I, the supervising physician, be present during the whole procedure if is done by resident or student? If I wasn't in the room for the procedure, I assume that I can't say I directly supervised. Correct? Massachusetts SubscriberAnswer: Assuming this is a Medicare patient (or a patient whose insurance follows Medicare's teaching physician rules), it's not billable at all if the procedure was performed by solely the student. If you are physically present and participate in the procedure along with the student, you should be able to report the service as if you did it yourself with the student acting as an assistant.For a resident, the minor procedure designation for teaching physician rules is different than the rules for global surgeries. A zero or 10 day global designation is not the determining factor for teaching physicians. The [...]