Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

CPT does not limit the units of critical care you may report, and even goes so far as to state, -Critical care may be provided on multiple days, even if no changes are made in the treatment rendered to the patient, provided the patient's condition -- continues to meet the definition of -critical- required to report critical care services.

But because critical care services are expensive, payers will likely demand a high level of documentation before paying out.

Documentation should report the exact critical care time and show that the oncologist gave his full attention to only the critical patient during the critical care time period. Careful: Only count time spent sustaining life functions toward the critical care time total. Don't count time spent on services you code separately, such as treatment planning, in the critical care time.