A new patient is one who has not received any professional services from a physician or from another physician of the same specialty who belongs to the same group practice, within the past three years. Providers must use procedure codes 99201, 99202, 99203, 99204, and 99205 when billing for new patient services provided in the office or an outpatient or other ambulatory facility. New patient visits are limited to one every three years, per client, per provider.
An established patient is one who has received professional services from a physician or from another physician of the same specialty within the same group practice, within the last three years. Providers must use procedure codes 99211, 99212, 99213, 99214, and 99215 when billing for established patient services provided in the office or an outpatient or other ambulatory facility.
New or established office or outpatient care visits are limited to once per day, same provider. When a new patient checkup is billed for the same date of service as a new patient acute care visit, both new patient services may be reimbursed when billed by the same provider or provider group if no other acute care visits or preventive care medical checkups have been billed in the past three years.
Modifier 25 may be used to identify a significant, separately identifiable E/M service performed by the same physician on the same day as another procedure or service. Documentation that supports the provision of a significant, separately identifiable E/M service must be maintained in the client’s medical record and made available to Texas Medicaid upon request. The documentation must clearly indicate what the significant problem/abnormality was, including the important, distinct correlation with signs and symptoms to demonstrate a distinctly different problem that required additional work and must support that the requirements for the level of service billed were met or exceeded.
The date and time of both services performed must be outlined in the medical record and the time of the second service must be different than the time of the first service, although a different diagnosis is not required.
An established patient visit that is billed with the same date of service as a new patient visit by the same provider will be denied as part of another procedure except when the established patient visit is billed with a new THSteps medical checkup.
Office visits (procedure codes 99201, 99202, 99203, 99204, 99205, 99211, 99212, 99213, 99214, and 99215) provided on the same date of service as a planned procedure (minor or extensive) are included in the cost of the procedure and are not separately reimbursed.
Preventive care services are comprehensive visits that may include counseling, anticipatory guidance, and risk-factor-reduction interventions. Documentation must indicate the anticipatory guidance rendered.
Adult preventive services (procedure codes 99385, 99386, 99387, 99395, 99396, and 99397) are a benefit of Texas Medicaid for clients who are 21 years of age and older. Adult preventive services are limited to one service per rolling year, any provider, and must be billed with diagnosis code Z0000, Z0001, Z01411, or Z01419.
Adult preventive services must be provided in accordance with the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations with grades A or B. USPSTF recommendations, with specific age and frequency guidelines, are located on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality website at
www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfix.htm.
Laboratory, immunization, and diagnostic procedures recommended by USPSTF are covered benefits and may be billed separately, as clinically indicated, using the most appropriate diagnosis code that represents the client’s condition. Diagnosis code Z0000 or Z0001 may each be used once per rolling year for each screen if no other diagnosis is appropriate for the service rendered, but no more frequently than recommended by the USPSTF.
For clients who are 21 years of age and older, breast exams and Pap smears are available through programs related to women’s health, including Texas Medicaid family planning services and the Healthy Texas Women (HTW) program.
Office or outpatient consultations are limited to one consultation every six months by the same provider for the same diagnosis. Subsequent office or outpatient consultation visits during this six-month period will be denied.
An office-based provider may bill an after-hours charge in addition to a visit when providing medically necessary services for the care of a client with an emergent condition after the provider’s posted, routine office hours. Office-based physicians may be reimbursed an inconvenience charge when either of the following exists and the reason is documented in the client’s medical record:
Hospital observation (procedure codes 99217, 99218, 99219, and 99220) are professional services provided for a period of more than 6 hours but fewer than 24 hours regardless of the hour of the initial contact, even if the client remains under physician care past midnight. Subsequent observation care, per day (procedure codes 99224, 99225, and 99226) is also a benefit of Texas Medicaid.
Observation care discharge day management procedure code 99217 must be billed to report services provided to a client upon discharge from observation status if the discharge is on a date other than the initial date of admission. The following procedure codes are denied if submitted with the same date of service as procedure code 99217:
If a physician observation visit (procedure code 99217, 99218, 99219, 99220, 99234, 99235, or 99236) is billed by the same provider with the same date of service as prolonged services (procedure code 99354, 99355, 99356, or 99357), the prolonged services will be denied as part of another procedure on the same day.
If dialysis treatment and a physician observation visit are billed by the same provider (and same specialty other than an internist or nephrologist) with the same date of service, the dialysis treatment may be reimbursed and the physician observation visit will be denied.
