Use these codes to report admission and discharge services for inpatients or observation care patients when the patient is admitted and discharged on the same calendar date. There is significant variability in payment, depending upon the code billed, so it is important to select the level of care which matches the clinical circumstances of the patient in order to optimize reimbursement.
For these encounters, the level of care may be selected based on the MDM required for the visit OR based on time spent.
The rules for performing and documenting these visits are covered extensively in the ADMISSION AND DISCHARGE ON SAME DATE course, which includes examples for all levels of care as well as detailed explanations of the MDM and time required for each visit.
The 99234 level of care for admission and discharge on the same date is the lowest level of care for this category. This level of care requires straightforward or low complexity medical decision-making or a total of forty-five minutes of time spent.
The 99234 level of care pays about $88.18.
The 99235 level of care for admission and discharge on the same date requires moderate complexity medical decision-making or a total of seventy minutes of time spent.
The 99235 level of care pays about $142.96.
The 99236 level of care for admission and discharge on the same date is the highest level of care for this category. This level of care requires high complexity medical decision-making or a total of eighty minutes of time spent.
The 99236 level of care pays about $189.72.