Can you bill an E/M service when the patient isn't present?

What happens when a provider meets with a family to discuss and develop a care plan for patients? Providers will give the parent the option to have the patient present or just the parent/guardian due to the sensitivity of the discussion.
Some scenarios where this may occur are cancer patients where the family wants to talk to the provider alone on treatment options or mortality issues, or pediatric patients where the conversation may be too sensitive to have the child present. But what can you bill for?
Terry covers this controversial topic in this edition of the CodeCast podcast.
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[@TheMedicalCodingGuild]

Thank you for the breakdown of this topic! I have a quick question: The E/M guidelines overview has the following guidance: 'These guidelines are for services that require a face-to-face encounter with the patient and/or family/ caregiver.' Furthermore, the Classification of E/M services section states this: 'The place of service and service type are defined by the location where the face-to-face encounter with the patient and/or family/caregiver occurs.' Why would we not accept these as rationale for billing a visit when the patient is not present? Thank you!

[@ChristineOlivas-sf9eh]

What about billing for 99358, non-face-to-face prolonged care code?

[@user-rm5xg1ul5e]

How about incident to billing for an MD to MD

[@naomimanning1779]

Hi Terry I just happened to come across your youtube channel and it has been very informative. Thank you! I have aquestion regarding membership, is the $1800 broken down monthly, 2 payments, or a one time payment, etc?

[@nikkigraves5261]

Some services might fall into caregiver codes (e.g., 97550/97551).