Do you provide patients with information on how they should modify their normal daily activities from an ergonomic and injury prevention point of view? Can you bill patients or insurance companies for this type of work?
The answer is absolutely YES. You can charge patients and insurance companies for this type of service. The CPT code that most accurately describes this procedure is 97535.
CPT code 97535 is self-care/home management training (i.e., activities of daily living and compensatory training, meal preparation, safety procedures, and instructions in use of assistive technology devices/adaptive equipment) direct one-on-one contact by provider, each 15 minutes.
This should be reported for devoting time to provide a separate and distinct procedural service to the patient for the purpose of the following:
~ Instructing the patient in managing an injury at home and preventing a secondary injury
~ Instructing the patient on how to prevent future exacerbations
Examples of ADL instruction include showing patients how to pick items off the floor, lifting pots from stove, reaching items in cupboards, opening drawers and exercises to help hasten the healing process.
Documentation for CPT code 97535 should relate the ADL instruction to the patient's expected functional goals and indicate that it is part of an active treatment plan directed at a specific goal.
Some common diagnoses codes that "link to" or "combine with" 97535 are the following:
723.4: Cervical radiculitis
724.1: Thoracic spine pain
724.4: Thoracic or lumbosacral neuritis or radiculitis, unspecified
719.7: Difficulty in walking
724.3: Sciatica
724.6: Lumbosacral or sacroiliac pain, instability, ankylosis
You should incorporate 97535 into your treatment plans if clinically indicated. See below information on how to create chiropractic treatment plans.
