Critical Care Billing Do we take care of

Critical Care Billing

Do we take care of critically ill patients? • Patient with PEG tube that became dislodged peritonitis air in abdomen tracked to lung TENSION PTX needle decompression + chest tube on floor ICU • Patient with recurrent atrial tachycardia with worsening respiratory distress required multiple interventions, in and out of room consistently throughout the day • Patient with acute liver failure developed ileus, worsening encephalopathy then hemodynamic decompensation ICU transfer • Sometimes we do!

Do we bill for taking care of critically ill patients? • I did not bill for the critical care service that I provided on any of those patients • Peggy Beeley and Kendall Rogers each billed once for critical care services

In summary: You can bill for critical care time spent if: • Caring for critically ill patient – evaluation AND treatment • Full attention to patient for greater than 30 minutes (can be accumulated throughout the day) • Possible language: I personally spent > 30 minutes of time (or X time) in evaluation and management of a critically ill patient. • Documentation should include how critically ill patient was evaluated and treated by ATTENDING – this can be referenced in resident note or in Attending’s documentation