May 27, 2021

Question:
Our practice understands how to report shared services in the hospital when the physician assistant and physician both see the patient on the same day. My question, and I have not found anyone who is able to answer is, how do we bill when a hospital-employed physician assistant and our physician sees the patient on the same day?

Answer:

Thanks for contacting KZA.   Shared services do not apply in the hospital setting between the hospital-employed physician assistant and your practice.  You may only report an encounter as a shared service if your practice employs or incur the expense of the physician assistant.

Some hospitals allow physician assistants to bill for their hospital encounters; some do not.  If you are able to bill for your physician’s encounter with the patient, the E/M service will be based solely on the independent work performed and documented by your physician.

*This response is based on the best information available as of 05/27/21.