Charging for items outside the traditional billing codes.

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); based on summary article by Orly Avitzur, Neurology Today based ona presentation by health care lawyer Daniel Brown.New CPT codes for telephone/internet assessment when provided doctor to doctor by a consultant-- codes 99446-99449.  May be used for complex and urgent situations when face to face is not practical.  These are time based only codes and only available to consulting specialist.  MEDICARE DOES NOT PAY FOR THESE CODES, "check with commercial payors about their policies"EMAIL (CPT code 98969 and 99444) and phone calls from patients (98966-98968 or 99441-99443) for after hours requests for routine refills of Rx and other requests.  Medicare does not cover these, because they are considered to be included in face to face.  With proper documentation, though you can add time of phone call to the time of the next visit IF its associated with the patient's next visit.  You can factor phone call into the time/complexity calculation of next visit.  Remember that using time , fifty percent of time must be face to face.   If a patient calls several moths after an appointment for an unrelated question, that could be considered a separate service. Can doctor bill the patient directly for internet consults?  Answer ...
Source: neurologyminutiae - Category: Neurologists Source Type: blogs