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Click here for more sample CPC practice exam questions and answers with full rationale

Question about Chief Complaint

How would you handle this coding situation for the CC and parts of HPI?

This is what the physician documented,

History of Present Illness:
1. Follow up, review apt
(name here) is doing well generally–summary of his issues are below.

I don’t feel this states a Chief Complaint and there are no elements for the HPI. I don’t think I should query the provider asking for the chief complaint and HPI because this can create a different e/m level after the physician has already signed the note and I think this encroaches on leading the provider. In the assessment/plan the physician does state what they went over.

Would you determine this as non-billable? Looking for advice on what you would do. Thank you

Medical Billing and Coding Forum

No Chief Complaint

I am coding E/M for a pulmonology office, mainly hospital critical care, consults, and progress notes. Doctor B never, EVER has a separate chief complaint documented. Doctor A,who runs the practice, hired me to look for errors and help fix them to keep from being audited. How do I approach this issue with the chief complaint? I’ve reviewed 100 charts, and there have been absolutely zero with a chief complaint….technically can those even be sent out? Not sure how to handle it.

Medical Billing and Coding Forum

Chief Complaint Is a Must Have

Each time you meet with a patient, you should document a chief complaint (CC). CPT defines the CC as “A concise statement describing the symptom, problem, condition, diagnosis, or other factor that is the reason for the encounter, usually stated in the patient’s words.” Simply stated, the chief complaint is a description of why the […]
AAPC Knowledge Center

Chief complaint (carry forward) by ancillary staff

My provider argues that if he is consciously carrying forward Chief Complaint gathered by ancillary staff that he is reviewing it and it should be accepted (without notation).

Would this count as having any validity being that the information was obtained by ancillary staff initially? Shouldn’t there be a notation at least to state that he/she reviewed it for accuracy and that he/she performed it and adding to it if necessary?

Is there anything from CMS aside from the Noridian link (https://med.noridianmedicare.com/web…/clarification) which has more clarification? There is argument that this mainly pertains to HPI and that it is only the HPI that should have a notation for reviewed for accuracy, did perform it and adding to it if necessary. Does this also apply to Chief Complaint?

Can I advise my provider that carrying forward the Chief Complaint is not recommended without notation or he should be documenting the chief complaint himself?

Medical Billing and Coding Forum

Chief Complaint/Status of Chronic Conditions

Does the chief complaint need to be separate from the HPI? There has been information out there that says that the chief complaint can listed under its own header or as the first sentence of the HPI (as long as it is clear). At my facility, many providers are split when doing this and I am trying to find out which is the correct way because it would alleviate a lot of extra work on both ends.

IF the chief complaint can be the first sentence of the HPI, would this suffice for chief complaint and status of one chronic condition? Example: Patient presents for follow up on hypertension and states he is doing well and offers no complaints.

Please let me know your input. Thank you very much.

Medical Billing and Coding Forum

problem found on exam added to the chief complaints

A patient comes in a Problem A (the "chief complaint"), but during the exam the provider also found problem B. Can problem B be added as a secondary chief complaint?

(The reason we want to do this is that our software only gives us an HPI checklist for chief complaints. If a problem is not a "chief complaint," the provider has to free-text the HPI; also the software will not count this HPI toward the E/M level.)

Medical Billing and Coding Forum