Ob-Gyn Coding Alert

Question:I have been told that when ob patients are high risk, we should bill visits with E/M codes like 99214 and not count them as a regular ob office visit. But when the ob-gyns see these patients with a V23.9 high risk diagnosis, they bill them as part of the ob code with a zero charge. So, should we be billing these visits as part of the global ob package or with 99214?California SubscriberAnswer: There are really two issues here: 1) Can you bill out additional visits for high risk pregnancy above global? 2) Should you level every ob visit?First, you can only bill extra visits if the payer allows it, and generally the payer will not take kindly to you billing them for each visit of a high risk pregnancy when you should be billing globally (such as, 59400, Routine obstetric care including antepartum care, vaginal delivery [with or without [...]