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Day 3 of hospitalization. Physician spent 40 minutes with patient, 30 of those minutes were spent counseling/coordinating care. Based on time how would this be coded? I am guessing 99233. Is this correct?
Day 3 of hospitalization. Physician spent 40 minutes with patient, 30 of those minutes were spent counseling/coordinating care. Based on time how would this be coded? I am guessing 99233. Is this correct?
Unfortunately, to code based on time, just saying ' 30 of those minutes were spent counseling/coordinating care', is not enough. Provider needs to say what the counseling was about, what care they coordinated, what was discussed.
As long as the context of time was there, and it sounds like the physician did document total time as well as time in counseling and/or coordination of care, then yes, you may bill on time. To see the typical E/M times, look to your CPT book. You'll see 99233 has a typical time for bedside and unit/floor of 35 minutes. If everything is documented as described, then yes, 99233 is appropriate.