This is a duplicate post - your same question was posted and answered on the Billing forum. This is also a topic that is frequently discussed on the forum so if you do a search, you'll find many responses available.
I'd refer you to the CPT book definitions of new and established patients at the beginning of the Evaluation and Management chapter: "A new patient is one who has not received any professional services from the physician/qualified health care professional or another physician/qualified health care professional of the exact same specialty and subspecialty who belongs to the same group practice, within the past three years. An established patient is one who has received professional services from the physician/qualified health care professional or another physician/qualified health care professional of the exact same specialty and subspecialty who belongs to the same group practice, within the past three years." There's also a helpful decision tree in the book that walks you through the questions to ask to make the correct choice.
So in your case, if the patient is being referred from one specialty to a different specialty within your practice, and has never had a face to face encounter with that new specialist in the last three years, or another provider in your practice of that same specialty, then yes, they can be coded as a new patient.
