Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Question: Who can request a consultation from a gastroenterologist?

Kansas Subscriber Answer: Certainly a physician, a physician's assistant, a nurse practitioner, a chiropractor, a podiatrist, an oral surgeon, and a clinical social worker can all request a consultation from a gastroenterologist. In fact, anyone who may receive payments from an insurance carrier for services that they provide can request a consultation.
 
A nurse who is not paid individually by an insurance carrier cannot request a consultation. But a nurse in the emergency room triaging patients can call a GI surgeon to see a new patient. Report these services with new patient E/M codes, not with consultation codes.  - Clinical and coding expertise for You Be the Coder and Reader Questions provided by Michael Weinstein, MD, a gastroenterologist in Washington, D.C., and former member of the CPT advisory panel; and Linda Parks, MA, CPC, CCP, coding and billing coordinator for GI Diagnostic Endoscopy Center in Marietta, Ga.