Question: Should I bill place-of-service 21 Inpatient hospital even though we’re seeing the patient in our practice?

Answer: You must bill POS 21 for a patient with inpatient status. CMS states in their transmittal [PDF], “When a physician/practitioner furnishes services to a registered inpatient, payment is made under the PFS at the facility rate. To that end, a physician/practitioner/supplier furnishing services to a patient who is a registered inpatient, shall, at a minimum, report the inpatient hospital POS code 21 irrespective of the setting where the patient actually receives the face-to-face encounter. In other words, reporting the inpatient hospital POS code 21 is a minimum requirement for purposes of triggering the facility payment under the PFS when services are provided to a registered inpatient.”

Learn more about POS in Ophthalmic Coding: Learn to Code the Essentials and CPT: Complete Pocket Ophthalmic Reference.