Pulmonology Coding Alert

Question: A new patient who resides in an assisted living facility was treated for emphysema, hypertension, and new onset cough by the visiting physician. Can we still report this with 99339 or 99340? Michigan Subscriber Answer: The domiciliary or rest home service done by the physician in this example is an E/M service and should not be confused with codes for care plan oversight (CPO) of a patient in a home, domiciliary, or rest home, which includes an assisted living facility (99339-99340). Instead, use E/M service codes for newpatient domiciliary, rest home, or custodial care services (99324-99328), depending on the level of the service. In your example, suppose the physician visited the new patient in the assisted living facility and was able to assess the patient's medical condition from a detailed history and detailed examination and proceeded to treat and manage the patient using moderate medical decision making. It would [...]