As promised, here's a glimpse into the Care Plan Oversight usage among PCC clients from 2006 through April 2008.

They used the code twelve times.

No, not per month, per client, or even per year. Twelve times, total, among all our pediatricians.

Now, this isn't an enormous surprise. It's a largely unknown and misunderstood pair of CPT codes which gained RVU values, finally, in 2007 (1.89 and 2.64, respectively, compared to a 213's 1.68). But what folks don't realize is that it pays, at least in my small sample, and pretty well at that - between $65 and $85. That's money that you don't get now for doing work that you are often stuck doing.

How about some links that explain how to use these codes properly? Here's a nice list:

• What the AAFP says
• What the ACP says (at the bottom)
• Perhaps my favorite, a piece from the AAP/Medical Home/CSCHN folks (includes good forms)

The tricky part, with this code, is tracking the time. Once you cross 15 minutes, per month, you have the 99339. Over 30 and it's a 99340. So, you don't want to pull the trigger too early each month because you never know when you're going to have to get back on the phone. Perhaps the best thing to do is have an end-of-month run through of your patients who need "oversight services of children with special health care needs and chronic medical conditions."

Time for a new poll.