Compliance
A
Day in the Office
Compliance
and reimbursement optimization in the retina practice.
BY RIVA LEE ASBELL
Many retina specialists consider surgery as
their main source of revenue and deemphasize coding for office visits and diagnostic
testing. This creates 2 problems — lack of proper chart documentation for compliance
and failure to optimize reimbursement. This review outlines some of the more important
areas that the physician should be involved in. The rules expressed are from Medicare.
OFFICE VISIT ENCOUNTERS
The Consultation Codes
Consultation codes reimburse significantly
higher than a comparable office visit code at the same level in Evaulation and Management
(E/M) coding. For example, a level 4 consultation code in 2006 has a national average
(nonfacility) of $165.32 vs a level 4 new patient office visit reimbursement of
$130.96 Most initial encounters by a retina specialist are considered consultations;
however, there are strict rules for coding and billing consultations that must be
adhered to. On Dec. 16, 2005, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
issued Change Request 4215, Transmittal 782, as part of the Medicare Claims Processing
Manual. The category of second opinion consultations (CPT codes 99271-99275) was
eliminated. This is a critically important document.
■ Request. Prior versions of CMS consultation
documentation guidelines never stated that the request had to be in writing. In
this transmittal, it is clearly stated that (bold print indicates new material):
"A written request for a consultation from an appropriate source
and the need for a consultation must be documented in the patient's medical record.
The initial request may be a verbal interaction between the requesting physician
and the consulting physician; however, the verbal conversation shall be documented
in the patient's medical record, indicating a request for a consultation service
was made by the requesting physician or qualified NPP.
"The reason for the consultation service shall be documented by
the consultant (physician or qualified NPP) in the patient's medical record and
included in the requesting physician or qualified NPP's plan or care. The consultation
service request may be written on a physician order form by the requestor in a shared
medical record."
This last paragraph has been interpreted to mean the consultant
is responsible for the requesting physicians' documentation, ie, that the request
be in the requester's chart. The Physician's Regulatory Information Team, a group
of CMS experts who work on regulatory matters, has clarified that Medicare does
not expect the consulting physician to verify that the requesting physician has
documented the consultation request in the patient's medical record.
I have spoken to Medicare carrier medical directors over the years,
and some have told me that they make it a routine practice to look for the documentation
in the requester's chart that a consultation was actually requested in the requester's
chart documentation. In my opinion, this is critical for chart documentation in
intraoffice consultations.
■ Report. A written report of the findings
and recommendations has always been required. Previous versions of this transmittal
were unclear and contradictory in dealing with whether a separate written report
would have to be produced within a group practice. This document clarifies that
in a large group practice (academic department or large multispecialty group) in
which there are often shared medical records, separate reports are not required.
A caveat for those of you who write reports to members of your group: It is a good
idea to continue doing that. It does not have to be lengthy — just a brief
notation of the clinical findings and clinical disposition. Technically, it is not
required but is a good safety precaution. At minimum, there should be a dated, initialed
notation that the results were reviewed.
■ Tips: Here are some tips to help you:
► Another physician or appropriate source
must request your opinion or advice — otherwise it is not a consultation.
► Consultation codes are E/M codes and if
you are going to use them you must follow the E/M guidelines — no exceptions.
I usually advise against using level 5 consult codes — not because you do not
have that level on certain patients, but simply because it is an invitation to audit.
► Develop a request form for outside referrals
for the consultation that can be faxed to your office and that clearly states a
consultation is being requested. Especially for your most frequent referrers, request
they keep a copy in their chart. Treat this as an insurance referral for front desk
purposes.
► Develop an intraoffice consultation request
form that specifies it is a consultation request, lists the date and reason for
consultation, and identifies who the requestor is. Its presence in the chart should
be religiously checked for by the consultant before proceeding with the consultation.
► A written report must be provided to the
requesting physician. For intraoffice consultations (consultations among members
of the same group), the shared medical record allegedly suffices; however, it is
better to do a short note to protect yourself under audit.
► Payment may be made regardless of treatment
initiation — be it surgery or medical. Diagnostic services and treatments may
be initiated at the initial consultation service or at subsequent treatment. This
has been a misunderstood concept for many years.
► You must have performed the 14 required
elements of the exam in addition to extended ophthalmoscopy if you are billing a
level 4 or higher. The extended ophthalmoscopy does not count for the required exam
elements of optic disc and posterior segment and the ophthalmoscopy.
► Be sure to use a forced entry examination
form (one with check boxes), and document negatives as well as positives. Mark boxes
individually. Do not use squiggly lines — an auditor may interpret that as
passing through the elements and not having performed them. See my Web site for
a sample (www.RivaLeeAsbell.com).
► If you use a separate history form, be
sure it contains all the organ systems that need to be reviewed for a comprehensive
E/M history and not just disease entities. When using a separate form, the physician
must sign off on the form and review it with the patient or it does not count.
► Do not use "PRN" as your management disposition.
This muddles whether the next patient encounter can legitimately be considered a
consultation if the patient is referred again for a different problem or encounter.
DIAGNOSTIC TESTING
Many diagnostic tests listed in CPT are
used daily in a retina practice. Usually you can bill for office visit encounters
and the diagnostic tests on the same day, though you need to review your carrier's
local coverage determinations (LCDs) to ensure that you are in compliance. Some
carriers limit the use of some diagnostic tests in the global period.
Extended Ophthalmoscopy
■ Tips: Here are some tips to help you:
► This is a designated as a unilateral test,
meaning that the provider is paid separately for each eye. Therefore, there must
be medical necessity for each eye, ie, signs and symptoms attributable to each eye.
Good medicine does not equate to medical necessity for Medicare; thus performing
bilateral testing when there is a unilateral problem to ascertain that the other
eye does not exhibit any problems is not reimbursable.
► A separate interpretation and report is
necessary. This is a written narrative report — not a labeled drawing.
► The drawing should be anatomically specific
to that patient.
► The drawing should not be able to be considered
a sketch. Provide a detailed drawing, preferably with some colors, clearly labeled,
and of sufficient size (usually 3 inches to 4 inches in diameter).
► Be sure to check your Medicare carrier's
LCD for this test. If one is not available, try following Empire New Jersey (www.empiremedicare.com).
Interpretation and Report Requirements
All the ophthalmic diagnostic tests require
an interpretation and report except for a few, such as gonioscopy. This is not a
scribble on the back of the OCT. It is a report that addresses clinical findings,
comparative data, and clinical management. For further information on this, visit
my Web site and read the article entitled "The Three C's" under the category "Diagnostic
Tests."
Empire Medicare has amended many of its LCDs concerning retina
tests to emphasize that the interpretation and report should address the clinical
management. Medicare wants to know how this test is going to help you with the
management of this patient. How do you know something might be in the audit pipeline?
An LCD revision may herald such an event.
Diagnostic Testing
■
Tips: Here are some tips to help you:
► Rules. You must abide by your carrier's
LCD on such issues as frequency, chart documentation requirements, and acceptable CPT and ICD-9 codes. Also, be sure to keep up to date with the edits in the National
Correct Coding Initiative.
► Diagnosis. There must be an appropriate
diagnostic reason (and diagnosis) for any test that is ordered. For example, some
scanning computerized diagnostic imaging (SCODI) policies (this code includes OCT)
do not incorporate retina diagnoses, in which case the physician must use the unlisted
CPT code for diagnostic tests, 92499.
► Familiarize yourself with which codes
are unilateral and which are bilateral. Be sure to bill for each side for unilateral
codes and also make sure there is medical necessity for testing each side.
►
You must have an audit trail in your chart when you are viewing tests such as fluorescein
angiography sitting in your office using digital imaging. I have consistently found
when auditing that there is no audit trail and often no interpretation and report.
After audit, monies have been paid back to various insurers because of this.
SURGICAL PROCEDURES PERFORMED IN THE
OFFICE
Surgery
In the retina practice, laser procedures
are the most common procedures performed in the office setting. Medicare defines
an operating room as a laser suite, an endoscopy suite, or an operating room in
a hospital or ambulatory surgery center.
■ Tips: Here is a tip to help you:
► Make sure your laser is not in a patient
examining lane. In order to use modifier 78 (Return to Operating Room for a Related
Procedure During the Global Period) you must perform the procedure in a room defined
as an operating room according to the Medicare definition.
Modifiers
When a major or minor procedure is performed
in conjunction with an office visit, you must use a modifier to assure payment for
both the office visit and the procedure.
■ Tips: Here are some tips to help you:
► Minor procedures are defined as those
with a global period of 0 or 10 days. If an office procedure is performed on the
same day as the office visit (for example, intravitreal injection and office visit)
you must append modifier 25 in order to get paid for both.
► If your chart note says "Return for injection,"
for example, then you do not have medical necessity to bill both the office visit
and the procedure since the reason for the encounter was for the procedure and not
a separately identifiable encounter, unless the patient has new complaints or a
new problem.
► Modifier 57 is used to generate payment
for an office encounter and a surgical procedure that is deemed major by Medicare
(global period of 90 days). If the procedure is performed within 24 hours of the
initial decision to do the surgery, then modifier 57 is the proper one to use.
CONCLUSION
Medicare audits have become more and more
pervasive and physicians are likely to witness an increase for chart requests by
various government audit agencies. It surely has become more difficult to maintain
a balance between compliance and reimbursement optimization. Physicians must ascertain
that both of these goals are being achieved in their practices.
Riva Lee Asbell is the principal in Riva Lee
Asbell Associates, an ophthalmic reimbursement firm in Philadelphia. She can be
reached through her Web site at
www.RivaLeeAsbell.com.
Retinal Physician, Issue: November 2006