Wiki Time Statements - Subsequent Inpatient Visit

[Rachel042807]

Wondering how everyone else feels, or if there is a rule that I am unaware of ??
This time statement is for Subsequent Inpatient Visit.
If a provider states greater than 20 min was spent with the patient and more than 50% was spent in counseling and coordination of care.

I personally don't know what more than 20 min is so I drop to 99231 Or do you feel I should be using the 99232, but that specifically states 25 min ??
I might just be thinking to hard on this ???


Thanks for any input.

 

[jdibble]

Wondering how everyone else feels, or if there is a rule that I am unaware of ??
This time statement is for Subsequent Inpatient Visit.
If a provider states greater than 20 min was spent with the patient and more than 50% was spent in counseling and coordination of care.

I personally don't know what more than 20 min is so I drop to 99231 Or do you feel I should be using the 99232, but that specifically states 25 min ??
I might just be thinking to hard on this ???


Thanks for any input.

In order to bill based on time, the provider must document the total time spent with the patient with a statement that more than 50% of that time was spent in counseling/coordination of care and provide a summary of the the discussion or what care was coordinated.

If your physician only documented "greater than 20 minutes" I would only allow that he spent 20 minutes. With a statement like that, it is unclear how much time he spent over the 20 minutes - was it 21 minutes? Was it 30 minutes? So, in this case you are right - I would round it down to the 15 minutes for a 99231 and educate him to document the total time, not the estimated time, that he spent in counseling/coordination of care as well as the 50% statement.

Hope that helps!

 

[Rachel042807]

Jodi Dibble

Thank you so much.