a person or thing that floats. 2. Informal. a person who is continually changing his or her place of abode, employment, etc. 3. an employee without a fixed job assignment: One of our officers works as a floater, filling in when someone is out. 4. U.S. Politics. a voter not attached to any party, especially a person whose vote may be purchased. 5. a person who fraudulently votes, usually for pay, in different places in the same election.
For Medicare patients, inpatient consultations are reported with the initial hospital visit codes (99221â99223). Do not append modifier AI, which is only used by the admitting physician.
Non-Medicare patients are considered outpatients until they are admitted to the hospital, and therefore the outpatient consultation codes are reported (99241â99245). If the surgeon does not come to the hospital to see the patient but only advises the ED physician by telephone, then the surgeon may not bill at all for this service.