Medical Coding

Answer: A - The correct procedure code is 99238 (Hospital discharge day management; 30 minutes or less). Code 99239 is used when the physician spends 30 minutes or more on the hospital discharge so that code is incorrect because the discharge note states that the physician only spent 25 minutes on the patient’s hospital discharge. The discharge note also states that the discharge was for a patient in the hospital, so code 99217 (Hospital observation patient) or 99315 (Nursing home patient) would also not be appropriate.