Library: Policy

317:30-5-664.4. Multiple encounters at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC)

Revised 9-1-19

An FQHC may bill for more than one (1) medically necessary encounter per 24-hour period under certain conditions when the appropriate modifier is applied.

(1) It is intended that multiple medically necessary encounters will occur on an infrequent basis.

(2) An FQHC may not develop FQHC procedures that routinely involve multiple encounters for a single date of service, unless medical necessity warrants multiple encounters.

(3) Each service must have distinctly different diagnoses in order to meet the criteria for multiple encounters.For example, a medical visit and a dental visit on the same day are considered different services with distinctly different diagnoses.

(4) Similar services, even when provided by two (2) different health care practitioners, are not considered multiple encounters.

(5) Encounters with more than one (1) FQHC practitioner on the same day, regardless of the length or complexity of the visit, would constitute a single visit. An exception is when the patient has either or both of these:

(A) An illness or injury requiring additional diagnosis or treatment subsequent to the first encounter; and/or

(B) A qualified medical visit, a qualified mental health and/or dental visit on the same day.