Wiki Splitting a Diagnositic Evaluation

[a.renee86]

I am auditing for some behavioral health providers and I'm having some trouble with the diagnostic evaluations. Many times, patients aren't as forthcoming in the first visit so the eval is incomplete. One, can we still code an evaluation or does it have to be coded at the completion of the eval? I have some providers that code (our providers choose their codes and get reviewed by a coder) 90791 and then on the return visit they code the time based psych code for the time spent. I'm having trouble finding information if this is allowable or what guidelines the providers should be following in these circumstances. Any insight?

Thanks,
Amber Shaw, NCICS, CPC, CPMA