Level 2 Hospital Consult (99252)

This is the second lowest level of care for hospital consultations.   Nephrologists use the 99252 for only 2% of consults performed in the hospital.  Dr. Jensen (who is a nephrologist) has used this code "maybe once or twice in ten years." Usually the presenting problems are of low severity.  The reimbursement for this level of care is approximately $81. You are probably over-utilizing this level of care because you don't realize that literally almost no medical decision-making is required for this visit. As usual, the web-course explains all.

The documentation for this encounter requires THREE out of THREE of the following :

1)   Expanded Problem Focused History
2)   Expanded Problem Focused Exam
3)   Straightforward Medical Decision-Making

Or 40 minutes spent face-to-face with the patient if coding based on time.  The appropriate documentation must be included.

Clinical Example

This topic is covered in more detail in of one of our web-based E/M coding courses.
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		Related Topics
		Level 1 Office Consults Level 2 Office Consults Level 3 Office Consults Level 4 Office Consults Level 5 Office Consults	Level 1 Hospital Consults Level 3 Hospital Consults Level 4 Hospital Consults Level 5 Hospital Consults
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