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42.6.3 Physician Services
Diagnostic and evaluation services are reimbursable under SHARS physician services. Physician services must be provided by a licensed physician (doctor of medicine [MD] or doctor of osteopathy [DO]). A physician prescription is required before PT or OT services can be reimbursed under SHARS. Speech therapy services require either a physician prescription or a referral from a licensed speech language pathologist (SLP) before the speech therapy services can be reimbursed under the SHARS program. The school district must maintain the prescription/referral. The prescription/referral must relate directly to specific services listed in the IEP. If a change is made to a service on the IEP that requires a prescription/referral, the prescription/referral must be revised accordingly.
The expiration date for the physician prescription is the earlier of either the physician's designated expiration date on the prescription or three years, in accordance with the IDEA three-year re-evaluation requirement.
SHARS physician services are billable only when they are provided on an individual basis. The determination as to whether or not the provider needs to see the student while reviewing the student's records is left up to the professional judgment of the provider. Therefore, billable time includes:
• The diagnosis/evaluation time spent with the student present.
•The time spent without the student present reviewing the student's records for the purpose of writing a prescription/referral for specific SHARS services.
•The diagnosis/evaluation time spent with the student present, and/or the time spent without the student present reviewing the student's records for the evaluation of the sufficiency of an ongoing SHARS service to see whether any changes are needed in the current prescription/referral for that service.
Session notes are not required for procedure code 1-99499; however, documentation must include the billable start time, billable stop time, total billable minutes, and must note the medical activity that was performed.
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