Parent only telemedicine visits

Telemedicine
1

Does anyone know if it is ‘allowed’ to bill for a ‘parent only’ telemedicine visit? We have many situations where extensive counseling is desired such as behavioral problems, helping with decision making for going back to school on line or in person, and desiring an order for covid testing to screen prior to going to camp, etc. None of these visits require a patient present, and none in my opinion should be done ‘for free’. I wonder if we can have these without the patient both on telemedicine and in the office as a consult.

2

Our practice has done ADD “consults” with parents only for years and billed based on time. We have not experienced any problems with payments. We have continued this by telemed and so far so good

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3

Do you do it for anything besides adhd consults? Like counseling for behavior? Or helping parents decide if their child should do school on line vs in person this year, etc.

4

If the visit is for counseling with parent regarding the patient, you can bill in office and get paid. I’ve not tried it as Telemedicine but the same rules should apply. Level of service based on time spent counseling

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5

Yes. Same as when done in office as noted above. Getting paid for TM. This is coming up a lot for visits where parents want to discuss risks of sending kids back to daycare. Do not give away care.

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6

Yes, I am doing many parent only telemedicine visits and billing by counseling time. I have been doing developmental discussions, ADHD parent coaching and even weekly toilet training coaching. The pandemic has been a wonderful time for toilet training with parents home and no where to go.

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7

Yes, I have done several them for ADHD, behavior concerns, etc and bill based on time. These have actually been some of my favorite telemedicine visits as I really feel like I am helping the family!

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8

We have been doing them, AND no problems getting reimbursed as we do when it is just the parent(s)/guardians are in the office, using the same codes and modifier for telehealth- billing as counseling, and based on time.

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9

Yes, CPT description for 9921# indicates “with patient and/or family”.

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