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Annie Posted Mon 23rd of January, 2017 12:59:30 PM
If a patient died and one doctor (from the same group)use critical care and another use a discharge which e/m code do you use?
SuperCoder Answered Tue 24th of January, 2017 05:31:36 AM

Hi,

 

If the physician provided (and properly documented) critical care and the patient later (in the day) passed away, it would be appropriate to bill the critical care and then the discharge if they saw the patient and did the pronouncement, etc. (again properly documented). Put modifier 25 with the discharge code.

For critical care services proper documentation of 30 minutes or more of direct care provided by the physician is a must.

Discharge day management codes are time based codes, so proper documentation of time should be stated in the records.

 

Thank you!

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