|Articles|June 19, 2009

Q&A: Use unit time when coding for prolonged services at nursing facility

Codes for nursing facility typical times are designed to parallel hospital inpatient codes.

Q: In the instructions for CPT code 99356, it states that unit/floor time is used and also that this code is the correct prolonged service code to use with a nursing facility service. Yet the nursing facility codes refer to typical time with the patient and/or family, and do not specify face to face. Is it unit time or face-to-face time?

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