outpatient encounter; office visit

Introduction

Designation for billing purposes:

Procedure

• generally includes:
  • medical history
  • physical examination
  • medical decision making
  • counseling &/or coordination of care

Notes

• in past 20 years, Medicare patients began seeing more specialists
• visits to primary care providers remained unchanged

More general terms

• encounter

More specific terms

• follow-up encounter
• home care
• new patient visit
• online encounter
• telephone appointment visit (TAV); telephone encounter

Additional terms

• outpatient