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Ob-Gyn Coding Alert

Obstetrics:

Know When to Start Global Ob for Nonscheduled Patient Visits? Find Out.

Published on Wed Mar 07, 2012

Three scenarios help illuminate what code you should report. When a patient sees her ob-gyn for a nonannual examination visit and learns she is pregnant, you need to adhere to the golden rule: code what you know at the end of the visit.When Nonscheduled Visit Determines PregnancyFollow these three scenarios, and you'll know when to start the global ob record.Scenario 1: The patient sees her ob-gyn for abdominal cramping, sweating, having missed a period, or other possible symptoms. These complaints prompt the ob-gyn to order a pregnancy test (like 81025, Urine pregnancy test, by visual color comparison methods). He learns from the results that she is pregnant.Solution 1: You should report an E/M service (for example, 99212, Office or other outpatient visit, established patient, problem-focused history and examination, straightforward medical decision-making) because the symptoms are related to a problem that turned out to be pregnancy. If the ob-gyn evaluated other [...]
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