Q&A Inpatient Coding.

[Kimperry70]

I work for a family physician. When he sees patients on the intensive care unit, he has asked me to bill 2 subsequent visits (Non Critical Care) for the same date of service. Is that allowed? I was under the impression that the only time you could only bill twice on the same day is for a critical care situation - for a life threatening situation, with a subsequent visit.

 

[Alicia Scott]

I am not sure about this Kim. Therefore I am going to send it to my friend Diana who is a pro. She will get us an answer. In the mean time if anyone else knows jump in.

 

[Alicia Scott]

I did get an answer from my friend on this question Kim but see now that I didn't post it. I will go in and find the information and post it soon. Sorry for such a delay in this question. :-(

 

[Alicia Scott]

Ok, here is our response.
I can't find anything that says you can bill two visits in 1 day for non-critical care. In my opinion, you should combine the time of the 2 visits and bill according to time.

 

[Alicia Scott]

Another response which elaborates a bit more. Thanks to Vanessa and Diana for there willingness to share. Coders are just awesome like that.
This person is correct, more than one subsequent visit will most likely be denied duplicate. Howevr, if the doctor truly saw the patient twice in the same day the visits can be combined for billing one visit for the day. The documentation for critical care must be very explicit in supporting the life or death situation.