Yesterday I received via email a compliance test in an advertisement. I took the test, which by the way is an interesting tool to facilitate interest in compliance. Anyway, the test consisted of a number of questions with multiple choice answers that were immediately scored by clicking the submit answer icon to tell you if you were correct or incorrect. I noted in taking the test that a number of the graded correct responses may not, in my opinon, be the best choice as the correct answer from a compliance perspective.


For example, one of the questions asked was what code would you (the doctor) bill on the first visit if a patient was referred by another healthcare specialist? The correct answer per the test was 99243, with the other choices being 99233, 99203, and 99213. The correct answer is "IT DEPENDS"! If the healthcare specialist who referred was not a physician would it still be a 99243? What if the components for this level of consult were not met would it still be a 99243? What if the physician just referred the patient for chiropractic care would it still be a consult at any level...