CPT 2010:
3 Pointers Solve Consult Versus Transfer of Care Riddle
Published on Mon Jan 04, 2010
Rule out 99241-99245 when you answer 'Yes' to 1 of these statements. Payers may follow Medicare's lead and no longer accept consult codes, but CPT gives you another year to use them and helps you apply the codes correctly with these changes. Medicare blamed the ongoing disagreement over when an encounter is a consultation versus a transfer of care for its decision to stop paying for the codes. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) had found a high error rate in this compliance area. The AMA, however, sought to further guide physicians on the distinction. Permit a Consult for Care Determination In the E/M Services Guidelines, the AMA defined transfer of care and distinguished it from a consult, explained Peter A. Hollmann, MD,AMACPT editorial panel vice chair at the AMACPT and RBRVS 2010 Annual Symposium in Chicago. "We added language to make the basic point that a consult is for [...]
