Tip: When to use inpatient consultation codes
Hospitalist Leadership Connection, August 19, 2008
To avoid overcoding, hospitalists should be aware of when it is or isn’t appropriate to use an inpatient consultation code. The purpose of a consultation code is so you, as a hospitalist, can bill for seeking the advice of another physician regarding a patient’s treatment. You should not use a consultation code if you transfer care to that other physician.
Inpatient consultation codes 99251 – 99255 are used for inpatient hospital settings for the following:
- Request for opinion/advice that is documented in a patient’s medical record
- Evaluation and opinion/advice that is documented in a shared record where no separate report is needed
- Evaluation and opinion/advice that is not documented in a shared record where a separate reported is required
The above except is adapted from The Hospitalist Program Management Guide Second Edition by Kenneth G. Simone, DO, and Jeffrey R. Dichter, MD, FACP, published by HCPro, Inc.
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