EM Coding Alert

Dx codes key to justifying same-day preventive and problem-oriented visits.

What do you do when a preventive visit reveals a new medical problem that needs attention? Can you code for both services? And if you do, what is the correct way to go about documenting the preventive visit along with the separate sick visit?

Whether you know the answer to these questions or not, you might want to read on and find out to make sure you’re not jeopardizing your practice’s bottom line.

Code the Preventive Service First

A combination visit occurs when a new or established patient comes in to your physician’s office for a preventive encounter and an issue is found or reported by the patient.

Preventive services are health care services started early to prevent illness or detect illness at an early stage. Some examples include annual exams, Pap tests, flu shots, and screening mammograms.

When your physician sees a patient for a preventive visit, but during the encounter he also performs a history, an exam, and medical decision making for a problem the patient has, you should report both the preventive encounter code and the problem-oriented encounter code.

Report the preventive medicine service first, either from the 99381-99387 (Initial comprehensive preventive medicine evaluation and management…) range for new patients or the 99391-99397 (Periodic comprehensive preventive medicine reevaluation and management…) range for established patients. Then, report the problem-oriented office visit from the new patient range 99201-99205 (Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of a new patient…) or established patient range 99211-99215 (Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of an established patient…). You will need to attach modifier 25 (Significant, separately identifiable evaluation and management service by the same physician or other qualified health care professional on the same day of the procedure or other service) to the problem-oriented office visit to make it clear that there were two separate services.

Example:  A 42-year-old established patient comes in to the office for her yearly preventive exam. During the encounter, the patient states that she has been having very heavy and frequent periods for the last 6 months, as well as episodes of severe sweating, and fatigue. The provider documents an extended HPI and a more detailed review of the GU system, but does not perform an examination that was not included as part of her annual pelvic/breast exam. He suspects pre-menopause or possible issues with uterine bleeding and orders an ultrasound and lab tests to check her FSH, estrogen, and thyroid function. The patient is instructed to keep a diary of the continued frequency and severity of her bleeding and schedules her for follow-up to discuss the test results in 2 weeks.

You would code the preventive exam with 99396. You can also report the problem with 99213 with modifier 25 attached, based on the expanded problem-focused history and low complexity medical decision making related to the complaints. Without modifier 25, you take the chance of not being paid for the problem-oriented portion of the encounter along with the preventive service.

Nail Down Ways to Be Reimbursed

According to some experts, Medicare may follow suit with other payers when it comes to covering preventive medicine visits. “Most payers cover at least one preventive medicine visit annually,” says Kent Moore, senior strategist for physician payment at the American Academy of Family Physicians.

“Even Medicare is moving in that direction with the Initial Preventive Physical Examination (IPPE) and annual wellness visits.” Because most payers do pay for preventive care, the more you know about what you can do to punch up your claim, the better your chances are of getting paid.

The keys to preventing non-payment of claims in this situation are documentation, correct coding, and knowing what the payer’s policy is, according to Moore. Here are five tips to make your claim stronger:

• Append the modifier 25 on the problem-oriented office visit. Do not count elements related to preventive care toward the problem-oriented level of service
• Ensure the ICD-10 code you assign supports the medical necessity for the services.
• Document the preventive care and the office visit separately.
• Know what preventive services your payer contracts cover.
• Appeal if you receive an unwarranted denial.

Experts warn:  Make your physicians aware that trying to help their patients avoid out-of-pocket costs by documenting preventive services as problems is fraudulent and could cost them dearly.