Primary Care Coding Alert

Question: What code covers a newborn hospital discharge?

Arizona Subscriber

Answer: CPT® guidelines direct you to report either 99238 (Hospital discharge day management; 30 minutes or less) or 99239 (... more than 30 minutes) for "newborn hospital discharge services provided on a date subsequent to the admission date." The exception is if the newborn is admitted and discharged on the same day. In that case, you would report 99463 (Initial hospital or birthing center care, per day, for evaluation and management of normal newborn infant admitted and discharged on the same date).