Wiki Surgical Assist

[LStana]

Is there anywhere I can find documentation as to what is required in order to bill our PA as a surgical assist. Does the physician have to document in his report what the surgical assist did or can the PA dictate separately as to what she assisted with. Please advise. Thank you!

 

[syraghu@yahoo.com]

Physican should dictate in his op-note.

 

[cjhalk@yahoo.com]

From my own experience, our physican only ever had to put down that the PA did the assist. The most we ever had as far as documentation was something like this

Primary Surgeon: Mickey Mouse
Assistant: Donald Duck PA-C

But never had a problem with NOT documenting what exactly the PA did as the assistant.

As far as I know, there are no guidlines as far as what needs to be written down. I am sure that even Medicare doesn't require certian documentation for the PA.

carrier to carrier probably could be different, but as an overall rule, i would say there isn't one.