Pediatric Coding Alert

Differentiate the four common types of pediatric hospital visits and you'll be on the road to correct coding.While most pediatricians evaluate newborn inpatients as part of their regular weekly work, some practices struggle with how to code these services. But once you break it down into the four most common categories of inpatient E/M rounds, you could be sending claims out the door faster and more efficiently.Check NICU Changes for 2012Two of the most serious types of infant hospital visits involve time with intensive care or critical care. In both of these cases, the pediatrician has to go above and beyond what's required when seeing a healthy newborn--and coding these visits can be a challenge.The issue of level of care provided is not specific to the site of service. However, neonatal critical and intensive care services are typically provided in a NICU.Intensive care: Suppose a baby is tachypneic with a [...]