Primary Care Coding Alert

See how changes affect your use of 99201-99205, 99460-99461, and more. Coding guidelines can sometimes seem confusing when you're trying to decide whether to classify a patient as new or established. For example, when an established patient presents to your practice to see a new physician, should you report a new patient office visit code? CPT® 2012 attempts to clarify this question and one other E/M stumper: Who counts as a "qualified healthcare professional" to administer that vaccine or provide prolonged service? 'New Patient' Classification Goes to a New Level Currently, CPT® indicates that a "new patient" refers to a patient who has not received any professional services, such as an E/M or other face-to-face service, from the physician or another physician of the same specialty in the same group practice within the past three years. Clarification: CPT® 2012 takes that definition a step further, by stating, "A new patient [...]