Question

A patient reports to the emergency room with severe RLQ pain. After triaging the patient, examining, and performing diagnostic testing; it was determined the patient had a burst appendix that needed surgery immediately. After the surgery was successfully performed by Dr. Jones, the patient was admitted to the hospital for observation. Dr. Smith admitted the patient, while Dr. Jones performed the surgery. They are both of the same practice. Provider services for inpatient care are billed on a fee-for-service basis. Each physician service results in a unique and separate charge designated by a CPT/HCPCS service procedure code.Patient reports to the Emergency room for LRDr. Smith admitted the patients.

Dr. Smith feels it's appropriate to bill for inpatient services on the same day and Dr. Jones feels he should be able to bill for inpatient services on the same day because he performed the surgery. WHo is correct and why?

Answer 1

Both are right with respect to their own thought or views. But Dr Smith was more right in comparison to Dr Jones. As there are various circumstances under which Dr jone is right -

a) as the patient needs immediate care , there may be condition that he came to hospital in emergency without any money.

b) patient may feel tensed , if he asked to pay bill on same day which may lead to other complications

C) patient might not be able to pay bill on same day , because, he might belong to poor family or he doesn't have that much amount of money

But on the other hand , Dr Smith told the patient to pay bill on same day, there might be any regulations of the hospital to pay bill on same day