Level 5 Office Consult (99245)

The 99245 represents the highest level of care for consultations taking place in the office.  This is the third most popular code used to bill for these encounters among internist who used this level of care to bill for 20% of office consults in 2003.  To get an idea of the frequency of use of this code among sub-specialists, nephrologists used this level of care for 32% of consults performed in the office during that same year (which added up to 50,435 visits). The 99245 ranked 111th among the most frequently used CPT codes by all physicians in 2003.  Usually the presenting problems are of moderate to high severity.  The reimbursement for this level of care is approximately $218.00.

The documentation for this encounter requires THREE out of THREE of the following :

1)  Comprehensive History
2)  Comprehensive Exam
3)  High Complexity Medical Decision-Making

Or 80 minutes spent face-to-face with the patient if coding based on time.  The appropriate documentation must be included.

Clinical Example

This topic is covered in more detail in of one of our web-based E/M coding courses.
E/M Consult Services
		Related Topics
		Level 1 Office Consults Level 2 Office Consults Level 3 Office Consults Level 4 Office Consults	Level 1 Hospital Consults Level 2 Hospital Consults Level 3 Hospital Consults Level 4 Hospital Consults Level 5 Hospital Consults
Although Medicare no longer pays for consult services, some private payers still do. But beware. Auditors love to downcode these visits when doctors don't include the exact right terminology. Learn to get it right.
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