Wiki ER & Critical care

[rrose55]

I have a patient that came into the ER on 2/24/16 at 21:22 and the dr has documented critical care time 30-74 minutes. Then on 2/25/16 a different dr has taken over in the ER and documents critical care time spent >104 min. The insurance is Molina. Would you bill both drs charges since they are on different days or only the one that did the complete assesment on 2/24/16?

 

[rbandaru]

Both should be billed separately for each physician on different dates. The initial assessment is not criteria the critical care service rendered and time is the key. It also should meet all critical care criteria to bill. For critical care place is not a criteria the critical care service can be rendered any where may be at ER or IP or any other place.

Regards
Dr.Ramnath Bandaru, CCS, CPC
American Medical Services LLC
http://amshealth.com/
Twitter: @HospitalCoders

 

[bhardesty]

Critical care documentation

Is it enough documentation for the physician to dictate 30-74 minutes of critical care time or must they dictate the exact amount of time, like 45 minutes? We have a new dictation system and it allows the physician to check the box for the span of critical care time.

 

[CodingKing]

It need to be a time not a range of times. For all we know it was really 29 which would mean CC code could not be reported. What if he checked the wrong box and it was over 75? Lost money.