It always amazes me to discover that most practices are unaware they can charge for telephone management consultations.

Although the concept of billing for telephone services may seem new, the American Medical Association introduced the new CPT codes in 1995. Codes 99371 (Brief), 99372 (Intermediate) and 99373 (Complex) are described in detail on Page 29 of the AMA Professional Edition of CPT 2005.

These services include calls between patients and physicians for consultations or medical management and calls between physicians and other healthcare professionals (such as nurses, therapists, pharmacists, nutritionists) for coordinating the medical management of the patient. Examples of coordinated care include reports on tests, clarifying or altering previous instructions, or initiating and/or adjusting therapy and dosages of medications.

Medicare and Medicaid do not reimburse for these three codes, although Medicare does reimburse for telephone management through the Care Plan Oversight Codes. Capitated plans will not cover these services either. However, many insurance companies are reimbursing very well (anywhere from $8 to $25 for a brief call). The opportunity exists to increase practice revenues significantly.

If patients are notified in advance to expect to be charged for services rendered, they should not object. The physician should not feel uncomfortable utilizing these codes since a professional service is being rendered and these services increase overhead costs. As reimbursements continue to decrease in today's healthcare market, practices cannot afford to give services away for free.

Charges for telephone management are lower than office visits and therefor have the potential to decrease healthcare costs for the patient when appropriate usage is warranted. Additional benefits to patients are the savings of time required for appointments as well as travel to and from the physician office.

So why not bill for all services rendered?

A convenient pad is available which serves as a tool for physicians to use in capturing telephone and on-line services. All too often physicians render these services but fail to log them and provide the information to the billing department. This pad is small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, yet contains all of the necessary information required for the billing clerk, as well as the medical record.

Physicians should place the pads in the following suggested locations:
1. The nightstand at home (to log calls received from the emergency room or patients during the night).
2. The physician's desk (for interruptions throughout the day).
3. The car (to capture calls made on cell phones while en route).
4. Shirt pocket (to capture services while on call but out of the office).
5. The computer at the home and office (to capture on-line services).

Pads should also be placed at the nurses' stations in order to document important prescription information before routing to the physicians for medical decision making, action required and signature. To purchase the pads, go to the “Products” tab at www.bottomlinemedicalconsultants.com.