Ob-Gyn Coding Alert

Heads up: Pregnancy won’t always be your primary diagnosis.

The starting line for global maternal care isn’t always clear-cut when a patient presents for an annual visit. At the beginning of the visit, she may or may not know she’s pregnant, but you should stick to one rule: you must code what you know at the end of the visit.

Link Test Result to Test in This Annual-Exam Scenario

Annual visits often lead to coding confusion when your ob-gyn establishes a patient’s pregnancy. You should choose from a range of different E/M codes according to three scenarios: a patient’s annual visit leads to a diagnosis of herpregnancy, she arrives knowing that she is pregnant, the ob-gyn eliminates other possible diagnoses.

Scenario 1: Your ob-gyn diagnoses pregnancy during a patient’s annual exam. Can you still report the annual exam?

Solution 1: Yes, you can still report the annual exam. You need only link the pregnancy test result diagnosis to the diagnostic test. Your claim should look like this:

• the annual exam (99384-99386 for new patients, or 99394-99396 for established patients) linked to Z01.411 (Encounter for gynecological examination [general] [routine] with abnormal findings) or Z01.419 (... without abnormal findings)
• the diagnostic test (for instance, 81025, Urine pregnancy test, by visual color comparison methods) linked to Z32.01 (Encounter for pregnancy test, result positive).

Don’t miss: Reporting the following routine pregnancy codes is optional:

• Z33.1 (Pregnancy state, incidental).
• Z34.00 (Encounter for supervision of normal first pregnancy, unspecified trimester),
• Z34.01 (... first trimester),
• Z34.02 (... second trimester),
• Z34.04 (... third trimester).
• Z34.80 (Encounter for supervision of normal pregnancy, unspecified, unspecified trimester),
• Z34.81 (... first trimester),
• Z34.82 (... second trimester),
• Z34.83 (... third trimester).

Bottom line: The ob-gyn is not monitoring the pregnancy at this visit, and you have documented what you know at the end of the visit by using Z32.01. As for the ob record, you should not begin it until the next visit. Otherwise, carriers will consider the whole visit part of the global ob service.

Think of it this way: You should not start the ob flow sheet until after the first visit where the doctor confirmed the patient’s pregnancy. The next visit the ob schedules after the confirmation is the start of the ob flow sheet. This prevents visits where patients come in to start prenatal care, only to find out they are not pregnant.

Keep in mind: You must report what you know at the end of any visit. If the ob-gyn knows the patient is pregnant, you must report the patient as pregnant and include the appropriate pregnancy diagnosis. If you have a positive pregnancy test, that code will be Z32.01, which is now a secondary code.

Patient Knows She’s Pregnant? Here’s What to Do

Scenario 2: The patient comes in for her annual examination, already knowing she is pregnant. Can you still report the patient’s annual exam?

Solution 2: Yes, you should code the annual visit and a diagnostic test to confirm the pregnancy. The annual visit is what the patient was coming in for.

Remember to link the pregnancy diagnosis to the test, not the annual examination. Your claim should look like this:

• the diagnostic test (such as 81025) linked to the pregnancy exam diagnosis (Z32.01)
• the annual exam code (99384-99386 for new patients, or 99394-99396 for established patients) linked to Z01.411 or Z01.419.

Caution: You would not normally also bill for a low level service (such as 99211) under this circumstance unless there was a significant and separate E/M service related to the pregnancy evaluation at this annual visit. In most cases, the physician will merely confirm the home pregnancy test and schedule the patient for obstetric care at the next visit. But keep in mind that if the pregnancy is being evaluated or managed, the payer is likely to include the entire visit as part of global care.

As for the global ob package, the patient should schedule a full visit with the ob-gyn. All visits, including the initial encounter with the physician, count toward the total for global care, which generally includes 13 outpatient antepartum visits.

Getting an ultrasound paid by any insurance company at the time the patient presents for an annual isn’t easy. Experts advise you to save yourself some hassle and set up a separate appointment for the ob-gyn to initiate the prenatal care.

Attempt This No-Complaint Scenario

Scenario 3: The patient presents for her annual exam but has other complaints. The ob-gyn discovers the pregnancy. Can you still report the patient’s annual exam?

Solution 3: Yes. Actually, the work involved in eliminating other possible diagnoses may constitute a higher-level E/M service. That work would not focus on or relate to the pregnancy, except to confirm it with a test. Keep in mind though, that a higher level of E/M service with an annual examination may result in denial for the annual since the annual is supposed to be comprehensive in nature. The documentation must clearly show the separate, significant nature of the problem addressed. Your claim might look like this:

• the higher-level E/M service (such as 99214, Office or other outpatient visit for an established patient ... 25 minutes face-to-face…) with 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) added and linked to the diagnosis for the problems evaluated
• the diagnostic test (such as 81025) linked to Z32.01 
• the annual exam code (99384-99386 for new patients, or 99394-99396 for established patients) linked to Z01.411 or Z01.419.