Locum Tenens, Fee for Time and Reciprocal Billing – Differing Options for Billing

Locum Tenens, Fee for Time and Reciprocal Billing are options for the billing of services when a substitute provider sees patients.  The definition of these three types of services is important when a provider is not able or chooses, like for a vacation, to be gone from the practice.  What type of provider (physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or other) can utilize which of the concepts of billing is important to understand in compliant billing.

Locum tenens is Latin word that means “to hold the place.”  There was confusion because the concept of Locum Tenens as a substitute physician was also a concept of how to bill for the services.  Medicare made a change and the billing concept’s name was changed to “fee for time compensation”.  This name did not help lower the confusion.  The facts of billing for a substitute physician didn’t change:  Reciprocal Billing has definitions that can include physical therapists.

The webinar will go into the details of who can use locum tenens or fee for time arrangements and reciprocal billing.  How long they can last, how to bill for the services, what documentation is needed and other details of this unique arrangement that Medicare allows providers to utilize.

Webinar Agenda

Medicare has the best documentation of the rules of billing for substitute providers.   Utilizing the rules found in the Medicare Claims Processing Manual as a base for the information presented on these three concepts, additional information found from other payers will be presented. 

Webinar Highlights

• What types of providers can be locums?
• What is the fee for time compensation model of billing?
• Who can use this methodology when billing for locums services of a provider?
• How long can a physician act as a substitute ?
• Are there any exceptions to this duration?
• What information goes on a claim form to identify the situation?
• What documentation needs to be kept for these services?
• What is reciprocal billing ?
• What types of providers can use reciprocal billing?

Who Should Attend

Coders, Billers, Administrators, Physicians