Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) encourages providers to counsel patients to self-isolate at the time patients are tested for COVID-19.
COVID-19 counseling services should cover topics on theCMS COVID Counseling Checklistand are now covered by Medicare. Providers should use existing evaluation and management codes to bill these services. As a reminder, when providers spend more than 50% of the face-to-face time for outpatient services providing counseling, they should use time to select the level of visit reported. For additional information, view pages 7 through 9 of theCMS MLN Matters article on Medicare’s response to the PHE on COVID-19.
Here’s a breakdown of the E/M codes look like based on time:
New Patient visit | Typical time (minutes) | Established Patient Visit | Typical Time (minutes) |
---|---|---|---|
99201 | 10 | 99211 | 5 |
99202 | 20 | 99212 | 10 |
99203 | 30 | 99213 | 15 |
99204 | 45 | 99214 | 25 |
99205 | 60 | 99215 | 40 |