Medicare Prolonged Services Procedure Codes 99354-99359

What You Need to Know
CR 5972, from which this article is taken, updates the sections of the Medicare Claims Processing Manual that address prolonged services codes, in order to be consistent with changes/deletions in codes and changes in typical/average time units in the American Medical Association Current Terminology Procedural Terminology (CPT) coding system.
Make sure that your billing staffs are aware of the prolonged services CPT code changes as described in Background, below.

Since Medicare Claims Processing Manual Chapter 12 (Physicians/Nonphysician Practitioners), Sections 30.6.15.1 Prolonged Services With Direct Face-to-Face Patient Contact Service (Codes 99354 - 99357) (ZZZ codes) and 30.6.15.2 (Prolonged Services Without Direct Face-to-Face Patient Contact Services (Codes 99358 - 99359) were first written, several code changes, code deletions, and typical/average time units have changed in the American Medical Association (AMA) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) coding system.
CR 5972, from which this article is taken, updates these sections that address prolonged services codes, in order to be consistent with the AMA CPT coding changes.
These manual changes:
(In keeping with current Medicare payment policy for physician presence and supporting documentation) define Prolonged Services and explain the required evaluation and management (E&M) companion codes;
Correct and update the tables for threshold times (reproduced below) to reflect code changes and current typical/average time units associated with the CPT levels of care in code families; and
In a new Subsection (30.6.15.1 (H)), explain how to report physician visits for counseling and/or coordination of care when the visit is based on time and when the counseling and/or coordination service is prolonged.

A summary of these manual changes follow.
Prolonged Services Definitions
In the office or other outpatient setting, Medicare will pay for prolonged physician services (CPT code 99354) (with direct face-to-face patient contact that requires one hour beyond the usual service), when billed on the same day by the same physician or qualified NPP as the companion evaluation and management codes. The time for usual service refers to the typical/average time units associated with the companion E&M service as noted in the CPT code. You should report each additional 30 minutes of direct face-to-face patient contact following the first hour of prolonged services with CPT code 99355.

In the inpatient setting, Medicare will pay for prolonged physician services (code 99356) (with direct face-to-face patient contact which require one hour beyond the usual service), when billed on the same day by the same physician or qualified NPP as the companion evaluation and management codes. You should report each additional 30 minutes of direct face-to-face patient contact following the first hour of prolonged services may be reported by CPT code 99357.

Note: You should not separately report prolonged service of less than 30 minutes total duration on a given date, because the work involved is included in the total work of the evaluation & management (E&M) codes.
You may use code 99355 or 99357 to report each additional 30 minutes beyond the first hour of prolonged services, based on the place of service. These codes may be used to report the final 15 – 30 minutes of prolonged service on a given date, if not otherwise billed. Prolonged service of less than 15 minutes beyond the first hour or less than 15 minutes beyond the final 30 minutes is not reported separately.

Required Companion Codes
Please remember that prolonged services codes 99354 – 99357 are not paid unless they are accompanied by the companion codes as described here.
The companion E&M codes for 99354 are:
Office or Other Outpatient visit codes (99201 - 99205, 99212 – 99215),
Office or Other Outpatient Consultation codes (99241 – 99245),
Domiciliary, Rest Home, or Custodial Care Services codes (99324 – 99328, 99334 – 99337),
Home Services codes (99341 - 99345, 99347 – 99350);
The companion E&M codes for 99355 are 99354 and one of its required E&M codes.
The companion E&M codes for 99356 are the Initial Hospital Care and Subsequent Hospital Care codes (99221 - 99223, 99231 – 99233), the Inpatient Consultation codes (99251 – 99255); Nursing Facility Services codes (99304 -99318).
The companion codes for 99357 are 99356 and one of its required E&M codes.

Requirement for Physician Presence
You may count only the duration of direct face-to-face contact with the patient (whether the service was continuous or not) beyond the typical/average time of the visit code billed, to determine whether prolonged services can be billed and to determine the prolonged services codes that are allowable.
You cannot bill as prolonged services:
In the office setting, time spent by office staff with the patient, or time the patient remains unaccompanied in the office; or
In the hospital setting, time spent reviewing charts or discussing the patient with house medical staff and not with direct face-to-face contact with the

patient or waiting for test results, for changes in the patient’s condition, for end of a therapy, or for use of facilities.
Documentation
Unless you have been selected for medical review, you do not need to send the medical record documentation with the bill for prolonged services. Documentation, however, is required to be in the medical record about the duration and content of the medically necessary evaluation and management service and prolonged services that you bill.
You must appropriately and sufficiently document in the medical record that you personally furnished the direct face-to-face time with the patient specified in the CPT code definitions. Make sure that you document the start and end times of the visit, along with the date of service.
Use of the Codes
You can only bill the prolonged services codes if the total duration of all physician or qualified NPP direct face-to-face service (including the visit) equals or exceeds the threshold time for the evaluation and management service the physician or qualified NPP provided (typical/average time associated with the CPT E/M code plus 30 minutes).
Threshold Times for Codes 99354 and 99355

Threshold Times for Codes 99354 and 99355 (Office or Other Outpatient Setting)
If the total direct face-to-face time equals or exceeds the threshold time for code 99354, but is less than the threshold time for code 99355, you should bill the E&M visit code and code 99354. No more than one unit of 99354 is acceptable.
If the total direct face-to-face time equals or exceeds the threshold time for code 99355 by no more than 29 minutes, you should bill the visit code 99354 and one unit of code 99355. One additional unit of code 99355 is billed for each additional increment of 30 minutes extended duration.
Table 1 displays threshold times that your carriers and A/B MACs use to determine if the prolonged services codes 99354 and/or 99355 can be billed with the office or other outpatient settings, including outpatient consultation services and domiciliary, rest home, or custodial care services and home services codes. The AMA CPT coding-derived changes are highlighted and noted in bolded italics.

For the full document read this: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/MM5972.pdf

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