I recently just took over coding for a surgical group. The issue we are having is consults. If a patient is referred to us by a family physician who did the testing and found that the pt has gallstones. Is this considered a consult since we are taking over the care for this problem-cholecystectomy. When I ck the cpt code book it says "If subsequent to the completion of a consult the consultant assumes responsibility for management of a portion or all of the pts conditions the appropriate E&M code for the site should be reported" I interpret that as saying this is not a consult. Help me please. My surgeons are not happy with me at this point.