Wiki Subsequent visits

[penswhitex]

I have a question regarding consults and subsequent visits pertaining to a cardiovascular surgeon. He is new to the group and we are new to his billing. If he sees a patient as a consult (commercial ins) on Monday, is going to do a CABG (90-day global procedure) on Friday and follows the patient Tue, Wed, and Thursday, are any of these visits, other than the consult, billable? Thanks in advance for the help.
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Penny Burkhart, CPC

 

[jdibble]

What was the reason that he did the consult on Monday, saw the patient Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then did the CABG on Friday? Was the patient unstable for the procedure and he was rounding on the patient to see if his condition improved and then decide on Thursday that he was stable enough for the procedure to be done on Friday?

You need to look at the reasons for the visits to tell if they are billable...but yes they could be all billable under the right circumstances. And if the decision to do the surgery was on the Thursday, you would need to bill that encounter with the 57 modifier.