Quiz: Are your incident-to and shared/split visits codes correct?

Are you documenting your incident-to and shared/split visits correctly? Take our quiz and find out. 

Answer: C. A consultation cannot be performed as a split/shared service. 

Answer: D. Per the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), “Direct supervision in the office setting means the physician must be present in the office suite and immediately available and able to provide assistance and direction throughout the time the service is performed. Direct supervision does not mean that the physician must be present in the same room with his or her aide.”

Answer: B. Medicare does not require the physician to sign the medical record when the NPP provides a service under the incident to guidelines. Physicians would need to look to state regulations and their own comfort level in determining whether they need to sign the note.

Answer: D. Under a shared/split visit situation, both parties must document and sign the work they perform. A notation of "seen and agreed" or "agree with above" would not qualify the situation as a shared/split visit because these statements do not support a face-to-face contact with the physician. Only the NPP could bill for the services.

Answer: A. True. The ordering and supervising physician do not need to be the same.

Answer: B. No. This no longer falls under the definition of incident-to because the physician has not set a plan of care for the new problem. Therefore, the NP must bill this visit under his/her provider number.

Thanks for taking our quiz! Don't forget to check out our other online quizzes here. Good luck! 

Have a coding question? Send it to us at medec@ubm.com.