Billing an office E&M when patient is not present

Can we bill an E&M code for physician consult with patient's spouse in the office to discuss disease status and treatment plan if patient is not present? Patient is debilitated from a form of Parkinson's and cannot communicate. She is is a care facility. Husband has POA for healthcare decisions. Not a Medicare patient.

Thank you

pt not present

someone posted the answer to this just a few threads down.

Billing for meetings without the patient present

There have been several threads on the topic: using the search function will show you both articles and forum postings.

There is an article entitled "Family meetings without the patient present."

Search using the word "family" in the search box above, "Look it up!"