Questions for Dr. Stern
About Your Urgent Care Center
29. Can I use nurse practitioners as locum providers? How long can they practice? Do we have 60 days to credential them the same as physicians?
Locum does not apply to mid-level providers.
Medicare:
- You can wait until you have a provider number to bill under the provider number.
- You can bill out as “incident to” if the physician provides part of the service or if it is a follow up visit that meets the incident-to guidelines.
Other payors: They may allow you to bill services provided by the NP under the physician number. Unless the center has a specific directive (check both contract, provider handbook, and any other documents from payor) from a contracted payor prohibiting this practice, some urgent care centers will bill under the physician number. This is a decision that you may want to make after consulting with a healthcare attorney.
NOTE: Certain state laws or regulations may override these considerations. For example, Ohio prohibits a NP from seeing a new patient unless seen by the physician during the same visit.
