Wiki Consultation confusion

[phenderson]

Hi,
I just read an article in a coding magazine that suggested if a pain consult was done for an IN patient the codes should be 99231. That is a subsquent care code. This is the first time the anesthesiologist has seen this patient. This is a medicare patient. Why wouldn't the 9922 codes be used? Can some one please explain?
Thanks,
Pam

 

[RebeccaWoodward*]

If this is a consultation per se and 1st time initial, inpatient visit, Medicare does instruct providers to report 99221-99223; assuming the documentation supports these levels. It's possible this is a misprint or it's possible that they were trying to convey what to do in the event the documenation does not support 99221 and left out some important information.