Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

To get a firm grip on the observation coding regulations, take a look at this example and figure out how you would code the service before you check the solution.

Example: A 55-year-old patient with mucopurulent chronic bronchitis is admitted to observation care by the pulmonologist for treatment. The patient responds to the treatment and is discharged home two days later.

Solution: In the above situation, you would use a code from the 99218-99220 range for service on the first day. Then you’ll bill a subsequent observation care code (99224-99226) for the second day of observation care, and an observation care discharge CPT^® code 99217 for the observation care on the discharge date

For your ICD-10 code, you’ll report J41.1 (Mucopurulent chronic bronchitis) to represent the cause of the outpatient service.

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