Observation Services – Practical Application to CPT’s Changes

Major changes to hospital services coding occurred in 2023. It has taken a while to truly understand the implications to those changes for providers Observation services now fall under the newly named Hospital Inpatient and Observation Services category.  Every day patients are admitted to observation. The course of their care has many options including being admitted to the hospital or discharged. The implications of their care location affect what codes your provider should use.  The new codes for Hospital Inpatient and Observation Services, cover all scenarios and the guidelines for the section help to understand what to do. But the practical application of these codes and how to use them has been challenging for many offices.

In this webinar, we will walk through each scenario of patient care that involves observation services. You will have a solid understanding of which codes, place of services and modifiers should and should not be utilized in selecting codes for the care of your patients. 

Webinar Objectives

Deciding what codes to use with patients that start their care in the observation unit or with observation status can be confusing. This audioconference will help with that confusion and give you an understanding of what codes and place of service should be assigned if the patient stays in observation, or if they are officially admitted to the hospital.

The other major issue that needs to be addressed is the discharge of the patient. What codes are the appropriate codes to be assigned to patients when they are discharged?  Does it matter if they are discharged on the same day or two days later? When does it matter where the patient is for their observation service?

Lastly, what codes should consulting physicians use when a patient is officially in “observation”?

Webinar Agenda

• What are the changes that occurred with Observation Care from a CPT code perspective?
• What are the changes that occurred with place of service codes for Observation care in CPT?
• What are the current admission guidelines for a patient in observation status?
• What codes should be utilized when a patient is in observation status for more than one day?
• What codes should be utilized for the discharge of a patient from observation?

Webinar Highlights

• In depth analysis of the changes that occurred to the newly formed Hospital Inpatient and Observation Status CPT codes
• Coding for the admission of a patient to Observation
• Coding of subsequent days for a patient in Observation status
• Coding of the discharge of a patient from Observation status
• Coding of a patient admitted to the hospital from observation status
• Coding of services for consulting physicians when the patient is in Observation status

Who Should Attend

Coders, Billers, Office Managers, Physicians, NPs, PAs