{"id":16102,"date":"2021-05-11T23:02:19","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T23:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/?p=16102"},"modified":"2021-05-21T18:59:43","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T18:59:43","slug":"a-guide-to-msb-billing-codes-for-virtual-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/a-guide-to-msb-billing-codes-for-virtual-care\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to MSB Billing Codes for Virtual Care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Over the past year, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health (MOH) has made frequent updates to several billing codes. In this post, we&#8217;ll explain the most recent updates on MSB billing codes for virtual care and share some guidance on billing these codes to ensure you are getting paid for the care you are providing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have broken the post out into&nbsp;two&nbsp;sections:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"#Family-Physicians\" class=\"rank-math-link\">Virtual Care Codes for Family Physicians <\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Specialists\" class=\"rank-math-link\">Virtual Care Codes for Specialists <\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Family-Physicians\">1.&nbsp;MSB Billing Codes:&nbsp;Virtual&nbsp;Care&nbsp;Codes&nbsp;for Family Physicians&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On January 1,&nbsp;2021&nbsp;the&nbsp;MOH&nbsp;announced new&nbsp;virtual care&nbsp;codes&nbsp;for family physicians&nbsp;to use moving forward. These new MSB billing codes&nbsp;replace&nbsp;the&nbsp;existing&nbsp;510\/515A service codes.&nbsp;For virtual care services provided between March 13,&nbsp;2020&nbsp;and December 31, 2020,&nbsp;physicians&nbsp;must&nbsp;continue to bill the&nbsp;510A\/515A service codes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The virtual care codes for family physicians are&nbsp;separated&nbsp;into&nbsp;two parts:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>General services&nbsp;<\/li><li>General practices &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>General Services&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The general services section&nbsp;has&nbsp;only&nbsp;one code:&nbsp;875A. This&nbsp;code is&nbsp;used&nbsp;for limited virtual care visits provided via&nbsp;videoconference only (not telephone)&nbsp;and is used for&nbsp;maximum of one per patient per day. This billing code&nbsp;cannot&nbsp;used&nbsp;with any additional&nbsp;MSB billing&nbsp;codes, virtual or in-person, by the same physician on the same day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Fee code<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Description<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Value&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>875A&nbsp;<\/td><td>Limited&nbsp;virtual&nbsp;care&nbsp;visit (patient to&nbsp;physician)&nbsp;provided&nbsp;via&nbsp;secure&nbsp;videoconference&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><td>$24.50&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Some things to note:&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Service must be initiated by the patient.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The 875A MSB billing code is&nbsp;payable to physicians providing episodic care initiated by a patient via a virtual care clinic that does not provide in-person physician services.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>This code is not&nbsp;payable for services performed by a medical learner under the supervision of a physician.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>General Practice&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The general practice section&nbsp;includes&nbsp;seven&nbsp;MSB Billing&nbsp;codes and can be&nbsp;used&nbsp;for any of the following services via telephone or secure videoconference:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Fee code&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Description<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Value<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>805B&nbsp;<\/td><td>Virtual&nbsp;partial&nbsp;assessment or&nbsp;subsequent&nbsp;virtual&nbsp;visit&nbsp;provided&nbsp;via&nbsp;telephone or&nbsp;secure&nbsp;videoconference&nbsp;<\/td><td>$35&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>855B&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><td>Virtual&nbsp;partial&nbsp;assessment or&nbsp;subsequent&nbsp;virtual&nbsp;visit&nbsp;provided&nbsp;via&nbsp;telephone or&nbsp;secure&nbsp;videoconference,&nbsp;involving a&nbsp;specialist&nbsp;referral&nbsp;<\/td><td>$35&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>809B&nbsp;<\/td><td>Virtual consultation provided via telephone or secure&nbsp;videoconference&nbsp;<\/td><td>$67.50&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>811B&nbsp;<\/td><td>Repeat virtual consultation provided via telephone or&nbsp;secure&nbsp;videoconference&nbsp;<\/td><td>$32.75&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>840B&nbsp;<\/td><td>Virtual counselling provided via telephone or secure videoconference \u2013 first 15&nbsp;minutes&nbsp;<\/td><td>$33.75&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>841B&nbsp;<\/td><td>Virtual counselling provided via telephone or secure videoconference \u2013 next 15 minutes or major portion thereof.&nbsp;<\/td><td>$33.75&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>864B&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><td>Virtual Chronic Disease Management provided via telephone or secure&nbsp;videoconference&nbsp;<\/td><td>$41.30&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For details on the requirements for&nbsp;virtual care&nbsp;MSB&nbsp;billing&nbsp;codes&nbsp;for family physicians,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcarewp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/05\/DoctorCare_SK_QRG_PrimaryCare_VirtualCodes_May2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"download our&nbsp;Quick&nbsp;Reference&nbsp;Guide&nbsp;here (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">download our&nbsp;Quick&nbsp;Reference&nbsp;Guide&nbsp;here<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Specialists\">2.&nbsp;MSB Billing Codes:&nbsp;Virtual Care&nbsp;Codes&nbsp;for Specialists&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For specialists, the&nbsp;MOH&nbsp;announced&nbsp;10&nbsp;codes&nbsp;that&nbsp;can&nbsp;be&nbsp;used&nbsp;for billing their virtual care services. These billing codes are separated into three&nbsp;categories:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Specialist telephone and video assessments&nbsp;<\/li><li>Specialist consultation or visit via telephone or&nbsp;video&nbsp;<\/li><li>Psychotherapy and other psychiatric services via telephone or video&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Specialist&nbsp;Telephone and Video Assessments&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>On January 1, 2021, the&nbsp;MOH&nbsp;announced that&nbsp;going forward,&nbsp;the&nbsp;510A\/515A&nbsp;MSB billing&nbsp;codes for&nbsp;pandemic telephone and video assessments are payable only to specialists.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specialist physicians are responsible&nbsp;for&nbsp;ensuring&nbsp;appropriate documentation for both assessments including:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Date and time of&nbsp;service;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Patient name;<\/li><li>Patient HSN;<\/li><li>Relevant clinical detail including symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Fee Code<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Description<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Value<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>510A&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><td>Pandemic&nbsp;telephone&nbsp;assessment&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><td>$35&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>515A&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><td>Pandemic&nbsp;video&nbsp;assessment&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><td>$35&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Things to note:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Specialist physicians can be paid for medically required telephone&nbsp;and video&nbsp;assessments not restricted to&nbsp;a&nbsp;diagnosis specific to COVID-19.&nbsp;<\/li><li>A maximum of two&nbsp;assessments&nbsp;(telephone, video, or a combination)&nbsp;are billable per patient per day.&nbsp;<\/li><li>These codes cannot&nbsp;be billed&nbsp;in combination with&nbsp;any additional service codes.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Specialist Consultation or Visit via Telephone or Video<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Five&nbsp;new&nbsp;MSB billing&nbsp;codes&nbsp;have been created for&nbsp;categories of&nbsp;communication between specialist&nbsp;physicians&nbsp;and an established patient or a new patient seeking medically required care.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A&nbsp;specialist&nbsp;consultation&nbsp;or visit includes:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Comprehensive assessment of&nbsp;a&nbsp;patient\u2019s condition including complete history, symptoms, diagnosis,&nbsp;treatment and&nbsp;follow-up;<\/li><li>Review of laboratory and\/or other&nbsp;data;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Written submission of the&nbsp;specialist\u2019s&nbsp;opinion;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Recommendations to the referring doctor&nbsp;(when patient is referred); and&nbsp;<\/li><li>Advice to the patient.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Fee Code<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Description<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Value<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>350A&nbsp;<\/td><td>Pandemic Virtual Care: Specialist consultation provided via telephone \u2014 first 30 minutes of direct physician\u2013patient care or major part&nbsp;thereof&nbsp;<\/td><td>$120&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>351A&nbsp;<\/td><td>Pandemic Virtual Care: Specialist consultation provided via secure video conference \u2014 first 30 minutes of direct physician\u2013patient care or major part&nbsp;thereof&nbsp;<\/td><td>$120&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>353A&nbsp;<\/td><td>Pandemic Virtual Care: Specialist visit provided via telephone \u2014 first 15 minutes of direct physician\u2013patient care or major part&nbsp;thereof&nbsp;<\/td><td>$52&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>354A&nbsp;<\/td><td>Pandemic Virtual Care: Specialist visit provided via secure video conference \u2014 first 15 minutes of direct physician\u2013patient care or major part&nbsp;thereof&nbsp;<\/td><td>$52&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>355A&nbsp;<\/td><td>Pandemic Virtual Care: Specialist consultation or visit provided via telephone or secure video conference \u2014 each subsequent 15 minutes of direct physician\u2013patient care or major part thereof, bill units (to a maximum of 2 additional units)&nbsp;<\/td><td>$56.10&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Some things to note:&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>All time requirements\/calculations are for direct physician-patient interaction only.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Billings for virtual care services performed by medical learners must include the comment: \u201csupervision of medical&nbsp;learner\u201d.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Physicians are responsible to ensure appropriate&nbsp;documentation&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Psychotherapy and Other Psychiatric Services via Telephone or Video<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Three new codes were introduced&nbsp;for&nbsp;billing&nbsp;communications&nbsp;between&nbsp;a&nbsp;physician and an established patient or a new patient seeking medically required psychotherapy and other psychiatric services during a pandemic. The virtual psychotherapy or psychiatric services must be a minimum of 15 minutes of medically required direct patient&nbsp;interaction via telephone or secure videoconference to a maximum of 8 units (2 hours) per patient, per day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The psychotherapy or psychiatric service&nbsp;may&nbsp;also&nbsp;include:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Psychotherapy (as defined in the Payment Schedule), including family or group psychotherapy.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Psychiatric care (as defined in the Payment Schedule);&nbsp;<\/li><li>Psychiatric counselling; and,&nbsp;<\/li><li>Advanced Primary Health Care for Pediatric Patients \u2013 Psychiatric Care.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Fee code<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Description<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Value<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>356A&nbsp;<\/td><td>Pandemic Virtual Care: Psychotherapy and other psychiatric services provided via telephone \u2014 first 15 minutes of direct physician-patient&nbsp;care&nbsp;<\/td><td>$56.10&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>357A&nbsp;<\/td><td>Pandemic Virtual Care: Psychotherapy and other psychiatric services provided via secure video conference \u2014 first 15 minutes of direct physician-patient&nbsp;care&nbsp;<\/td><td>$56.10&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>358A&nbsp;<\/td><td>Pandemic Virtual Care: Psychotherapy and other psychiatric services provided via telephone or secure video conference \u2014 each subsequent 15 minutes of direct physician-patient care or major portion thereof, bill units (to a maximum of 7 additional units per patient\/per day)&nbsp;<\/td><td>$56.10&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Some things to note:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>These codes are billable by physicians with entitlement to bill 33E-39E, 100E, 101E, 110E, 111E or 163B\/164B.&nbsp;<\/li><li>All time requirements\/calculations are for direct physician-patient interaction only.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Billings for virtual care services performed by medical learners must include the comment: \u201csupervision of medical&nbsp;learner\u201d.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Physicians are responsible&nbsp;for&nbsp;ensuring&nbsp;appropriate documentation (that must include start and stop time) according to&nbsp;the \u201cDocumentation Requirements for the Purposes of Billing\u201d.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>For details on the requirements for each of the&nbsp;virtual care&nbsp;billing&nbsp;codes,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcarewp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/05\/DoctorCare_SK_QRG_Specialists_VirtualCodes_May2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"download&nbsp;our virtual care for specialists&nbsp;Quick&nbsp;Reference&nbsp;Guide&nbsp;here (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">download&nbsp;our virtual care for specialists&nbsp;Quick&nbsp;Reference&nbsp;Guide&nbsp;here<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DoctorCare&nbsp;helps doctors sort through confusing billing rules, automate billing submissions, ensure errors are fixed, and optimize billings to maximize revenue. If you are interested in learning more about how we can help, contact us to set up a free consultation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\">Contact Us<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past year, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health (MOH) has made frequent updates to several billing codes. In this post, we&#8217;ll explain the most recent updates on MSB billing codes for virtual care and share some guidance on billing these codes to ensure you are getting paid for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":16105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[134,129,137],"location":[],"class_list":["post-16102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-saskatchewan","tag-sk-billing-codes","tag-sk-covid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16102"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16145,"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16102\/revisions\/16145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16102"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websites.awesomified.com\/doctorcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=16102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}