Billing basics for physician assistants and nurse practitioners

In recent years, physicians have increasingly looked to nonphysician practitioners (NPPs) as a resource for delivering care to patients. While historically more prevalent in primary care groups, nonphysician practitioners have expanded their presence within medical subspecialty and surgical groups as well. Along with planning for appointment scheduling, credentialing, and introducing the nonphysician provider to patients and referring physicians, the savvy practice will thoroughly review how services for a nonphysician can and should be billed. In this article, we focus our attention on basic Medicare billing parameters for physician assistants and nurse practitioners, two types of nonphysician practitioners.