consultations in hospitals

3 different patients are admitted to hospital for pulmonary cancer or cardiology problem.

patient A is known to the Pulmonary specialist for several years but is admitted to hospital under Hospitalist care. Hospitalist ask for a pulmonary consult for a new problem. So is the pulmonary specialist permitted to bill a hospital consult code for the non medicare and a hospital admission ( consult code ) for a medicare patient.
Since i am unfamiliar with the conditions of pulmonary disease i will ask you to comment about this issue of a new problem that may be related to the patient primary diagnosis why he is seeing the pulmonary specialist on an ongoing basis in the pulmonary specialist office.

This same scenario applies to an admission of a cardiology patient known to the cardiologist but is admitted to the hospital and again the hospitalist request a cardiology consult.

In cancer i can offer a specific example. During the week the stage 4 breast cancer patient was treated with chemo and Saturday is admitted to the hospital for Neutropena fever due to the chemo. So can the Medical Oncologist bill a hospital in patient consult for non medicare and admission code for medicare in the hospital if the hospitalist request a consult to help the hospitalist manage this new problem that is associated with the chemotherapy.

thank you

Martin E Neltner
859-743-6192