Can you code critical care and discharge on the same day?

CMS has previously told us that critical care and an E/M code can be billed on the same calendar date if the critical care was provided after the E/M service was provided. Unfortunately, they do not specifically agree or disagree that an E/M code can be billed after a critical care code.

Can prolonged services be billed with discharge?

No prolonged with discharge You cannot bill prolonged service with discharge day management codes.

Can you bill an admission and discharge on the same day?

A: Yes. A patient must be in observation status at least eight hours for a physician to bill a same-date admission and discharge code. Medicare rules differ from the instructions in the CPT code book for this scenario and, thus, are more likely to differ from private-payer billing rules.

How do I code a hospital discharge?

Hospitalists should report one discharge code per hospitalization, but only when the service occurs after the initial date of admission: 99238, hospital discharge day management, 30 minutes or less; or 99239, hospital discharge day management, more than 30 minutes.

What is the discharge code for a hospital?

Perhaps it has to do with the AMA definition of the discharge codes. The CPT® manual states that discharge codes 99238 and 99239 are to be used by physicians to report all services provided to a patient on the date of discharge.

Can You Bill critical care and discharge on the same day?

Billing for the admit and discharge same day codes would not allow the practitioner to capture their critical care service and CMS has told us to “bill the available code that most appropriately describes the level of service provided. The bundled admit and discharge codes 99234-99236 would not be appropriate in this situation.

What is the hospital code for Day 1?

Code: Initial Hospital Care code (99221-99223) that incorporates all services (observation and admission note) provided and documented that day. Scenario #2: The patient is admitted in the evening (Day 1) to observation status, tests are performed, and results are pending.

Can a patient be discharged on the same calendar date?

As hospitalists, we see many patients who present with critical illness, or become critical but because of excellent care or rapid reversal of the critical situation, are able to be discharge on the same calendar date. Some of this has to do with when the clock starts running.