Eli's Rehab Report
PT and OT Can Split the Coding
Question: I am a PT, and I recently worked alongside an occupational therapist (OT) for 30 minutes with the same patient for transfer activities. Can we each bill 97530 for this encounter?
North Carolina Subscriber
Answer: According to Medicare, when a physical therapist and an occupational therapist both provide therapy services to one patient at the same time, only one therapist can report the entire service, or the PT and OT can divide the service units.
If you apply the second option to your situation, the PT would report one unit of 97530 (Therapeutic activities, direct [one-on-one] patient contact by the provider [use of dynamic activities to improve functional performance], each 15 minutes), and the OT would also report one unit of 97530. Otherwise, only one of the therapists could report two units of 97530.
Heads-up: This rule also applies to two therapy assistants. Either they can split the time or only one should report the entire service.
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