Wiki Observation Discharge-99217

[abhishekrane32@yahoo.com]

Good morning

I have query regarding observation discharge, Is there any requirement of TIME documentation to code 99217? is it time based?

Abhishek Rane CPC

 

[smtcoder17]

No. This is a D/C observation code. Only inpatient D/C code 99239 is time based. It must be greated than 30 minutes. 99217 cannot be used if the patient was admitted & D/C on the same day.

 

[Naveen Rachagolla]

99217

99217 is used when the discharge from observation occurs on a different date of service than the admission date, and it is not a time base code, what ever the time spent by the physician in preparing the patien or the records to discharge all that time is included in 99217 itself.