How will the admitting physician be distinguished from other physicians who may furnish specialty care in the hospital inpatient setting?
CMS has created a modifier “A1” to distinguse the physician who oversees the patient’s care (principal physician of record) from other physicians. This modifier must be appended to the principal physician of record initial hospital care code. If you are not the principal physician of record and are providing specialty care, CMS requires you to use the appropriate E/M code (99221-99223) when the initial evaluation is performed. Follow-up visits in the hospital setting may be billed using subsequent care codes (99231-99233).
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