Follow-up office visit without patient present

We had a new patient come in to our office in a wheelchair along with his wife. The patient is paraplegic. For the follow-up visit two weeks later, only the wife showed up saying the patient's van was at the shop and the patient couldn't come without his van. So, the doctor spoke with the wife about the patient's symptoms/treatment/etc AND they called the patient on speakerphone with the doctor and wife present.

My CPT book says for 99211-99215 that "physicians typically spend ____minutes face-to-face with the patient and/or family". I'm not asking which level code to use...I'm asking if I can use ANY of those codes without the patient present. It seems like I can, but I'm not sure. I know there are phone call codes, but as we all know...they aren't usually paid.

The patient has another visit coming up and I suspect they will continue to do it this way regardless of whether or not the van is operational...

E/m

http://www.sccma-mcms.org/_images/_userfiles/File/billingFamilyCounseling.pdf

follow up on family meeting

http://codapedia.com/topicOpen.cfm?id=D2CEE506-08FD-4CBB-A4DB8A2BC2C337DA

http://codapedia.com/topicOpen.cfm?id=D413181B-41EA-4315-B9F1D03D2E7F5D53