ASGE members may submit coding inquiries electronically to codingquestions@asge.org. When submitting a question, please allow at least three business days for a response. When submitting inquiries, please include the ASGE member’s name and ID number. Only questions will be accepted and not reports. Below is our featured Coding Question of the Month that could be beneficial to your practice.
Question: We are looking into the coding for smoking cessation. We have heard that it will interfere with our office visits. What are the educational and documentation requirements to qualify for smoking cessation coding? Do we append a modifier on the OV (office visit) charge?
Answer: This is not typical of GI, so remember that this would be an additional fee for your patients and that they would have to request the information concerning cessation. You would have to inform them of the additional fee that will be charged. This is also a time-based code, and documentation must contain time separate from visit and the exact details discussed and the care plan.
Here are the codes:
99406 - Smoking and tobacco use cessation counseling visit; intermediate, greater than 3 minutes up to 10 minutes $13.91
99407 -Smoking and tobacco use cessation counseling visit; intensive, greater than 10 minutes $26.52