Maternity care billing is getting an overhaul that ob/gyns say is long overdue and will likely improve patient care and physician compensation -- as long as it's rolled out effectively.
For decades, there's been a global system for pregnancy care billing in which all patients got the same package of 13 visits and clinicians were paid in a lump sum for this bundle. But starting Jan. 1, ob/gyns can individualize patients' care plans and bill for specific services thanks to new maternity billing codes adopted by the American Medical Association (AMA).
Clinicians currently bill the same global bundle of services for all obstetric patients regardless of insurance type, similar to the billing approach used in some surgeries. Soon, ob/gyns will input new Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes for the specific services, visits, and add-ons that their patients need, as most other clinicians do for other types of care.
The long-used bundled package included prenatal care, labor and delivery care, and one postpartum visit. Maternal morbidity and mortality often occurs in the postpartum period, and ob/gyns now recommend that patients have more than one postpartum visit to keep tabs on their well-being.
