rpl121 wrote on Sunday, June 22, 2008:
From my experience in the trenches of family medicine, I would say this:
When the doctor codes each CPT procedure code, he/she assigns a maximum of four ICD-9 diagnosis codes to that procedure.
The diagnosis code for subsequent procedures may or may not be the same.
One should print the first procedure on the first page, along with up to four applicable diagnosis codes.
If all four diagnoses codes for the second procedure are already listed on the first page (or if there is room to list any necessary additional ones), then the second procedure can be added to page one.
One can then continue with all the procedures in a similar manner, until all the procedure codes are considered or you use all the six lines.
Then you start a new page and consider all the procedures in a similar manner, and so forth, until all procedures are printed with up to four applicable diagnoses each.
It is important to note that up to four diagnosis pointers can be printed for each procedure line.
I believe that insurers generally prefer that procedures from different calendar months be printed on different pages, but I suggest you check on that.
While one is allowed to use a range of consecutive dates and multiple procedure codes, one for each day, I have found it better to use one line for each single date/procedure combination. That eliminates any ambiguities about what services were done on which days, and what the individual charges were for each individual service.
Naturally, each subsequent page would have to stand by itself. That means that all the demographic information would be re-printed on each page. Furthermore, all totals would be totals for each page only.
