Coding and Documenting Critical Care for Surgeons and Surgical Intensivists
Reporting of critical care codes is increasing and has become a major hot spot of payor audits. Why? Critical care codes pay more and require that true critical care was provided. The only way to support critical care is through excellent and compelling documentation describing the critical care encounter.
This webinar will describe the difference between good and bad documentation as well as outlining the current payor rules for use of critical care codes.
Detailed case scenarios will help you identify which critical care circumstances support critical care, and how to create documentation that will hold up under scrutiny.
We’ll also describe when resident or NP/PA documentation and time count in your critical care calculation.
- Defining critical care: Medicare vs CPT
- When can critical care be billed?
- In the global period
- Is critical care included in the global package?
- Separating critical care from the global package
- When can it be done?
- What modifier is appropriate?
- Coding critical care
- Minimum times for 99291 and +99292. Can 99291 be billed twice in one day?
- Is a patient on a ventilator always critical care? What about someone in the ICU?
- What’s included and what’s not include in the critical care codes
- Coding concurrent care by the same or different specialties. When is it OK? What “counts’ as a different specialty?
- Does place of service matter?
- Can residents or NPs or PAs bill critical care? Can we add their time to the surgeons?
- Documenting critical care
- Are templates enough?
- Documentation tips and strategies
- Case examples of good, not so good and bad critical care documentation
learning objectives
After attending this course, participants will be able to:
- Identify scenarios when critical care coding is appropriate and when it is not.
- List the procedures that are included in critical care codes.
- Identify surgical specialties as defined by payors that are consider different specialties.
- Understand what modifier should be used if billing critical care in the global period
Presenter
Teri Romano has over twenty-five years of consulting and teaching experience in the health care field. Ms. Romano works with physician groups and hospitals combining a background in clinical systems with solid approaches to operational and organizational problem solving.
Please email education@karenzupko.com if you have questions.
