Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

Check your incident-to coding skills: How would you report this shared E/M service? The nurse practitioner (NP) sees a new patient and then presents the patient to the physician. The physician sees the patient and discusses the treatment plan.

If the physician sees the patient face-to-face and makes notes, you can report the NP's services as incident-to, says Judith Richardson, RN, MSA, CCS-P, a senior consultant with Hill & Associates. If your physician writes an extensive note and has a face-to-face encounter, however, you should report the physician's work and drop the incident-to service.

On the other hand, if the NP sees the patient, leaves the room to discuss the plan with the physician, and together they determine a care plan, after which the physician sees the patient, finishes up and writes and signs a note, report incident-to, she says.

For more on incident-to, read "Increase Pay by 18 Percent: Maximize Incident-To" article in this issue.