Wiki Ybyers

[YBYERS]

Our ob nurse sees a new patient & initiates the ob record. The physician signs off on the record but does not see the patient. Pt later miscarries or moves out of the area. Can we bill for a nurse visit?

 

[mitchellde]

A nurse as in RN/LPN cannot initiate a patient service. They may not be the only entity to see the patient. So what you have is a patient that saw only the RN in your practice and that RN deemed the patient healthy, the patient then miscarried and never saw the physician.
To bill a nurse visit the physician must have already seen the patient for the same diagnosis and must have a plan of care in the medical record for the nurse to follow up on. A new patient can not meet this criteria so no you may not bill this encounter.