Pediatric Coding Alert

Stymied by a lack of written consult requests? Fax this form to requesting physicians

If you have trouble getting requesting physicians to document their consult requests in writing, we've got just the tool for you.

Although technically a consult request can be in writing or verbal, a written request is required by Medicare and is becoming increasingly required by other payers.

In Pediatric Coding Alert's March "You Be the Coder," we referred to a new way that you can ensure that requests for all consultations you perform are well-documented. We advised pediatricians to fax the requesting physician a form to file in the patient's chart, which simply documents the physician's consultation request.
 
Several subscribers asked us to share this form with readers, and we listened. The following form was written by Barbara J. Cobuzzi, MBA, CPC, CPC-H, CHBME, president of CRN Healthcare Solutions in Tinton Falls, N.J., who allowed us to reprint it for our pediatric subscribers' benefit.

Best practice: You can fax this form to a requesting physician who hasn't asked in writing for your pediatrician's advice and ask him to fax it back to you -- or you can use this form to ask a specialist for his opinion. If you use it to request a consult from another physician, you should print the form on two-part no-carbon-required paper. This way, one form goes with the patient to the specialist, and one stays in your chart, as the requesting physician, to meet insurers' requirements, Cobuzzi says.