Hi,
We have an established Medicare patient who was in the hospital as follows:
7/21 for observation
7/22 for observation
7/23 admitted as inpatient
7/24 - 7/31 inpatient
The doctor did a full workup (he said "H&P") on 7/21. For the rest of the stay he did his usual visits to follow her care.
The hospital computer system notes the admission date as 7/23 with 7/21 - 7/22 as observation.
What CPT's do I use for 7/21 - 7/23? I found the observation admission codes (99218 - 99220) but there's no code for subsequent visit for observation. Do I use the same code for both days?
I also found codes 99234 - 99236 just to make things more confusing. What's the difference between this group and the previous one?
He says he didn't do any discharge paperwork on the observation so I guess I can't bill it. Since he did his admission paperwork on 7/21 can I bill an inpatient admission on 7/23?
Thanks for helping me to make sense of this scenario.
-- Scott
We have an established Medicare patient who was in the hospital as follows:
7/21 for observation
7/22 for observation
7/23 admitted as inpatient
7/24 - 7/31 inpatient
The doctor did a full workup (he said "H&P") on 7/21. For the rest of the stay he did his usual visits to follow her care.
The hospital computer system notes the admission date as 7/23 with 7/21 - 7/22 as observation.
What CPT's do I use for 7/21 - 7/23? I found the observation admission codes (99218 - 99220) but there's no code for subsequent visit for observation. Do I use the same code for both days?
I also found codes 99234 - 99236 just to make things more confusing. What's the difference between this group and the previous one?
He says he didn't do any discharge paperwork on the observation so I guess I can't bill it. Since he did his admission paperwork on 7/21 can I bill an inpatient admission on 7/23?
Thanks for helping me to make sense of this scenario.
-- Scott
