CodingIntel

Medical coding resources for physicians and their staff. CodingIntel was founded by consultant and coding expert Betsy Nicoletti.

Critical Care for General Surgery and Trauma Surgeons

  • Critical care provided as a stand alone service is based on the seriousness of the patient, the types of interventions, and time
  • Critical care provided by a surgeon to a patient in a global period for procedures with a 10 or 90 day global period, must also follow the rules for critical care, with the added complication of following global surgical rules
  • In 2022, CMS stated it will continue to allow post op critical care during a global period of the critical care is unrelated to the organ system/surgical procedure performed

Critical care services provided by a surgeon before, on the day of, and after a major surgical procedure are complicated by the payment rules for the global surgical package. Payment for the global surgical package includes all of the typical services provided by a surgeon, or by the surgeon’s same specialty partners in their group.

So, in addition to mastering the rules for critical care, there is an added filter to consider. Is the critical care part of the global payment? When can it be billed in addition to the global payment for the surgery?  

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- Betsy Nicoletti
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Our mission is to provide accurate, comprehensive, up-to-date coding information, allowing medical practices to increase revenue, decrease coding denials and reduce compliance risk. That's what coding knowledge can do.

In 1988, CodingIntel.com founder Betsy Nicoletti started a Medical Services Organization for a rural hospital, supporting physician practice. She has been a self-employed consultant since 1998. She estimates that in the last 20 years her audience members number over 28,400 at in person events and webinars. She has had 2,500 meetings with clinical providers and reviewed over 43,000 medical notes. She knows what questions need answers and developed this resource to answer those questions. For more about Betsy visit www.betsynicoletti.com.