Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

Question: A family wanted to meet the neurologist before bringing their cerebral palsy-diagnosed daughter in for an exam. The neurologist spent about 20 minutes with them, but no examination took place. How can we be reimbursed for our time?

Texas Subscriber

Answer: This type of service is not normally payable by insurers, and is usually done as a courtesy between the neurologist and the patient. The only way to bill is to create a standard fee for the service based on your neurologists individual fee rates (e.g., what your neurologist feels his or her time is worth based on the amount of work involved during the meet and greet and factoring in the consideration that the duration of these encounters may vary depending on the complexity of the potential patients needs and the amount of questions or concerns). You would have to let all potential patients know up front that they will have to pay directly for the service if they request it, whether the subject of the meet and greet becomes a patient or not.

If you have a multi-physician practice, such a policy should be discussed with the partners in the practice, because charging patients for a meet and greet may not be the best public relations message you can send to the community and may cause many potential patients to seek neurologists who do not charge for this initial meeting. You must weigh the costs that the neurologist would be losing during the meet-and-greet encounters against the possible reimbursement you would expect from the potential patient.