Initial ob visit

Hello! I hope someone can answer this question for me. It's pretty simple but my doctors are second guessing. This is the scenario: A patient is seen by her gynecologist (not obstetrician) for amenorrhea and the gyn orders an ultrasound which confirms a pregnancy. The gyn then refers to an ob/gyn doctor for continuation of the patients prenatal care. Can the ob bill the diagnosis code V72.42 for unconfirmed pregnancy when seeing this patient for her first actual prenatal visit even though the pregnancy was confirmed by a different doctor with ultrasound? If not, how should this be billed? Thanks for the help.

AStough

Initial OB visit

Is reported with the pregnancy diagnosis. However, it is considered part of the global OB package and is not reported separately, per ACOG and CPT.

There is an article in the database (on this website) about it, called "Initial OB visit"

Also, look at ACOG's website:

http://www.acog.org/departments/dept_notice.cfm?recno=6&bulletin=4666

It is called "Global OB or not Global OB" and it is quite good.

initial ob

Can we bill for the pap smear and gc/chlamydia cultures that are done at the initial visit?

those are labs

And should be paid. The professional fees (and possibly ultrasounds) are all that should be included in the global.

initial OB visit

Yes, these are separately billable.

They will be reported by the lab, however, in most cases. You can bill 99000 which may or may not be reimbursed.