Question
Can you review the Medicare Part B guidelines as it relates to students treating patients?
Answer
The following criteria need to be met in order to bill for the services that the student provides:
- The qualified professional, meaning the therapist or the assistant who is supervising, is present in the room for the entire session.
- The clinician is directing the service; they are making the skilled judgment, and as such, are responsible for the assessment and the treatment.
- That clinician is not engaged in treating any other patient, and they are not engaged in doing any other tasks at the same time.
- The qualified professional must sign all documentation.
Now, the student can also sign the documentation, but it's technically not necessary because what Medicare pays for is the therapist's services for supervising, not the student's services to the patient. So basically what's happening here, is a co-treatment between the supervisor and the student. The student can certainly be working with that patient, that's not a problem. They don't have to be hands-off, but what we need to see happening is that the supervisor is there 100% of the time, directing it, making that skilled judgment, and they are responsible, so in essence, it is, in fact, a co-treatment between the therapist or assistant, (whoever's supervising that student), and the student.
