Trauma pt. case

Patient comes into the Trauma bay and is admited by the Trauma phys..should the visit be billed as a ER consult or Inital inpatient? My thought reponse to my trauma MD is if the patient is medicare would have to bill it as an inital inpatient, but if the pt. has commerical insurance and a request for consult was made for Trauma bill ER consult. What if they are not going to be the admitting physician? I am confused..

so...

the ED doc consulted the Trauma surgeon to evaluate and admit the patient. It's an initial hosptial visit. She's the admitting/attending on the case. The orthopedist who is called by the surgeon gets to bill a consultation as does the internist. The trauma doc could have billed the ED consultation if the patient went home. If the patient is admitted, even with commercial insurance, no one bills an ED consultation.

trauma patient

If you are the admitting physician, bill the initial hospital service.

If the patient is in outpatient status at the time you see the patient, and the insurance recognizes consult codes, you can bill outpatient consults. But, if the patient's status changes to inpatient, you may have trouble getting those paid.

See also:

http://www.codapedia.com/-article_243_.cfm

http://www.codapedia.com/-article_455_.cfm