I have read the includes and excludes notes for CPT codes 99401-99409 and understand that Preventative measures include wgt reduction, tobacco use cessation etc
But, if the counseling for Behavioral Health was extensive during a Physical and documented in detail would that justify using behavioral health codes . I’m thinking not ,but really want to be clear
Or
Could the behavioral codes be used with another E/M say for example ,pt is scheduled for f/u HTN,Hyperlipidemia ,NIDDM in addition the pt states he has been drinking heavily Provider performs an AUDIT and documents 30 minutes face to face counseling ETOH dependency and it’s affect on DM,etc ,Indicating that the counseling time was done outside of the 20 minute f/u up appointment
I don’t like to see documented time spent counseling for smoking,morbid obesity with diet and exercise recommendations 30 minutes with level 99214 ,knowing that there are CPT codes available for those services ,having an understanding to separate counseling for behavioral health and utilizing those codes when appropriately
Any recommendations for research on Behavioral health coding would be appreciated
I understand AAPC does offer a course for same (recently on sale )however it’s still to costly for me
Appreciate any help or direction
Cheri