Locum Tenens for a doctor that quit

I work for a practice that has a doctor that quit working Fridays. He works all the other days except Fridays. Is it proper to hire a locums and bill under the doctor that left for 60 days until I can make more permanant arrangments?

locum

Has another physician left the practice, or would you be billing under the provider number of the doctor who works Mon-Thu?

If an MD has left, then you can use the locum rules. There's an article about locums in the data base, with citations. Search with the word locum in the search box.

Locum Tenens for a doctor that quit

The Physician just quit on Fridays - He didn't quit the practice. The plan was to hire a locums for Friday and bill under the M-Thu Doctor for 60 days. It’s a stretch but I'm losing business.

locum

That you cannot do, because the doctor is still there.

You can only use the locum rule if the doctor has left the practice. You can't use the regular physician's provider number for a fill in doctor on Friday.

locum

As the name implies, a locum tenens physician should be a temporary “substitute” for a regular physician. In order to bill for the services of a locum tenens physician, one would submit a claim under the provider number of the regular physician, but add a modifier to the claim (-Q6) for billed services that are provided by a locum tenens physician instead of the regular physician. Therefore, since the services are billed under the actual provider number of the regular physician, it follows that the physician who is absent must not be providing medical care in another setting during his/her absence. A locum tenens physician cannot be engaged to assist in providing coverage during a seasonal volume increase or due to other staffing issues that do not involve the unavailability of a specific physician for whom the locum tenens physician serves as a temporary substitute. This is due to the fact that a locum tenens physician cannot bill under the provider number of a regular physician who is available and providing services to patients. Lastly, a locum tenens physician must cover only one regular physician at a time, as the locum tenens physician must specifically stand in the shoes of the physician who is absent and provide services to that physician’s patients and only that physician’s patients, as if the locum tenens physician was the regular physician.
Assuming the locum tenens physician begins providing services on March 1, the services of the locum tenens physician may only be billed through April 30. After April 30, Dr. Jones would have to return to work and begin seeing patients again before a locum tenens physician could be used in the future
as a substitute for Dr. Jones. This sixty (60) day period runs consecutively. Therefore, even if Dr. Jones was part time and only worked Tuesdays and Thursdays (and the locum tenens physician only provided services every Tuesday and Thursday), the maximum time period is still only sixty (60) consecutive days, regardless of whether the locum tenens physician only spent twenty (20) days of those sixty (60) days providing services.