Ask the Coder (537)

If a patient has been seen in the office in the past 3 years by any provider in the practice they are considered an established patient. It does not matter if you are billing medical or dental. To answer your question specifically you would use and established patient E/M code,

Fluoride codes have changed for 2013, the following are the only fluoride codes to be used. All other fluoride codes have been deleted. 1. D1206 - to be used on both child/adult when a fluoride varnish has been applied 2. D1208 - to be used on both child/adult when topical fluoride has been used (i.e. (more)

Since consult codes are no longer recognized or paid by insurance carriers, depending what the DDS saw the patient for and what part of the hospital the patient was seen you would use the following code set series. ER 99281-99285 In-Patient Hospital 99221-99223

It would depend on what other service you are billing D4211 with and what the carriers Utilization Review for the code states. You would need to be more specific on what you are billing D4211 with in order to receive an appropriate answer.

Most carriers would consider 7 or more contiguous teeth to be considered major surgery...yes you would use 41899 as the correct CPT code. This procedure usually has a global period of 30 days however, some carriers state the global period is 14 days. You will need to check your carriers utilization review to find out (more)

While "desensitizing appointments" are a common occurance in Pediartic offices this is usually done at the doctors expense. There is no specific dental code for this type of appointment and most carriers will not pay for this type of visit. You may try to bill with CDT code D9999 and send a supportive narrative giving (more)

The correct ICD-9-CM code for Cerebral Palsy is 343.9

According to HIPAA Explanation of Benefits should not be part of the patients chart, any financial information on the patient should be stored in a seperate area. If your particular software system has a seperate financial area from the chart documentation area then yes, it should be scanned and stored in the patient financial area (more)

If a patient (child) has dual insurace meaning they have two dental plans the primary insurance will depend on several factors. 1. Who's birthday falls first mother or father 2. Who's plan has been in effect the longest 3. Is there a court order determining custody and insurance In order to find the answer you (more)

If billing medical for the extractions you will use 41899 and list it however many extractions were performed. In box 19 of the CMS-1500 form you will put D7140 teeth involved and list the teeth numbers. You will need to check with your carrier for specific guidelines on extractions and what is and is not (more)