Dear Doctors,

A month has passed since RAMQ implemented the New Nomenclature for RAMQ billing in Private Offices. By now most of the dust should have settled and you should be well on your way to efficient and optimal RAMQ billing. However, due to the monumental nature of the changes that have been put into place, I believe it prudent to go over some of the more frequent concerns that have been put to me. Here are the TOP 5:

1. You cannot claim a “visite de suivi” if you are not the patient’s family doctor. All the Rendez-Vous (RV) codes (Visite de Prise en Charge, Visite Périodique du Vulnérable, Visite de Suivi, Visite Périodique Pédiatrique) are reserved for the patient’s family doctor. If you are not the patient’s family doctor, and you saw the patient with an appointment, you must choose between the « Visite Ponctuelle Mineure » or « Visite Ponctuelle Complexe ».
2. You cannot claim a “visite d’évaluation psychiatrique” or “visite de suivi psychiatrique” if you are the patient’s family doctor. Indeed, bizarre as it may sound, you can only claim those codes if you are NOT the patient’s family doctor. Furthermore, to claim those codes, the patient needs to be referred to you by another MD.
3. You cannot claim the phone communications even if you are exempt from the 500 patient rule. Indeed, several MDs who are in their first year of practice and have vowed to roster 500 patients before the end of the year, or who have over 35 years of active practice, are able to claim the >500 patient fees. However, this exemption does not hold when claiming the phone communications. You must have a minimum of 500 actual rostered patients to claim those.
4. Phone communications between family doctors are not payable! You must speak with a medical specialist to claim the phone communication with a specialist, or other types of health professional s (dietician, etc) if you wish to claim the phone communication with other professional.
5. Patients over 70 years old will no longer be deemed vulnerable as of November 1^st 2016. This means that if you have been lackadaisical in entering your vulnerable codes for those patients because you thought that it did not matter, you are in for a rude awakening come November 1^st. This means that you have until October 31 to go over your patient list and add the vulnerabilities as needed.

If any of this is news to you, or remains unclear, perhaps it is time to book your free consultation at Mediregi Billing Services. We will happily sit down with you and go over all the details, and relate them specifically to your individual practice. Contact me today at [email protected] or by phone at 514-735-5375 (298).