Dermatology Coding Alert

New rules place emphasis on subspecialties.

It's an age-old debate -- when an established patient presents to your practice to see a new physician, should you report a new patient office visit code? CPT® 2012 attempts to clarify when that's possible with a revision to the "New and Established Patient" section of the CPT® manual.

The rules: Currently, CPT® indicates that a "new patient" refers to a patient who has not received any professional services, such as an E/M or other face-to-face service from the physician or physician group practice -- within the same physician specialty -- within the past three years.

Clarification: CPT® 2012 [...]

- Published on 2011-12-13