Patients often schedule two medical appointments on the same day with physicians of different specialties.  It’s convenient for them. It saves travel time.  It may mean the patient or a family member only needs to take one day off work.

Can a multi-specialty practice be paid for two visits, when the physicians/non-physician practitioners (NPPs) practice in different specialties?  The answer should be yes.

Specialty designation

When physicians enroll in Medicare and private insurance companies, they indicate their specialty. This is typically the same as their board certification, but within that, some physicians have a subspecialty.

CMS has a list of two-digit specialty designations that they use at enrollment and to process claims.  Although there are more specific taxonomy specialty codes, CMS uses the two-digit code to process claims.  There is a link to the current list at the end of this article.