Wiki prolonged care

[Kstrobel]

I have a patient in the hospital for 3 days. The admitting dr. saw the patient on day 1 and 2 in the morning. Also on day 2 a surgeon was called in to consult and ended up doing surgery. After surgery another doctor from the same group as the first doctor was called into evaluate. Is there anyway i can get both doctors paid? Can I use prolonged care for the second, if it is a dif. doctor?
Thanks Karen

 

[FTessaBartels]

Not sure I understand

Let's see if I have this straight

Day 1 - patient admitted by Dr Admitting
Day 2 - patient seen by Dr Admitting AND by Dr Surgeon (who decides to perform surgery)
Day 3 - patient seen by Dr Partner (of admitting)

Is that correct?

As long as Dr Partner is NOT a surgeon in the same practice/specialty as Dr Surgeon (who operated), you would just bill the appropriate subsequent hospital visit. If the visit took an extraordinary amount of time (at least 30 minutes over and above the typical time for that level of service), then you can also use the prolonged service codes.

Hope that helps.

F Tessa Bartels, CPC, CEMC