# Ultrasound guidance 76937 for left.right heart cath



## ljones88 (Sep 13, 2017)

Hi all, 

I have a few cardiologists that want to bill 76937 when they access the radial artery and wanted to know if this is acceptable. I thought I had read somewhere that 76937 was for venous access procedures not arterial. Long story short, the doctors are performing mostly left and right heart catheterizations. 

Thank you in advanced!


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## Jim Pawloski (Sep 13, 2017)

ljones88 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I have a few cardiologists that want to bill 76937 when they access the radial artery and wanted to know if this is acceptable. I thought I had read somewhere that 76937 was for venous access procedures not arterial. Long story short, the doctors are performing mostly left and right heart catheterizations.
> 
> Thank you in advanced!



76937 is for any vascular access, however it is considered part of the study and is not billable
HTH,
Jim Pawloski, CIRCC


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## baroquecoder (Nov 1, 2017)

*76937 with LHC*



Jim Pawloski said:


> 76937 is for any vascular access, however it is considered part of the study and is not billable
> HTH,
> Jim Pawloski, CIRCC



I have many docs trying to bill this with every LHC. I have Dr. Z's Endovascular surgery coding reference and it states it can be billed but only if documentation guidelines are met. ? When verifying criteria, I ensure vessel patency is documented but my docs save the image on paper and am unable to verify permanent recorded images through the EHR. Please advise further. Thanks.


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## Jim Pawloski (Nov 1, 2017)

baroquecoder said:


> I have many docs trying to bill this with every LHC. I have Dr. Z's Endovascular surgery coding reference and it states it can be billed but only if documentation guidelines are met. ? When verifying criteria, I ensure vessel patency is documented but my docs save the image on paper and am unable to verify permanent recorded images through the EHR. Please advise further. Thanks.



If that paper image is put in the chart, and stated that way, it counts.
Jim Pawloski, CIRCC


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## speedrcrsd (Jan 2, 2019)

Jim Pawloski said:


> If that paper image is put in the chart, and stated that way, it counts.
> Jim Pawloski, CIRCC



Hi, I was wondering if you could help me on this. I have cardiologists that have the separate US and others where (per a xray tech) that the image of the LHC is sufficient to bill for the US guidance. Could you explain what I need to look for, image-wise? thank you


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## tjyanak (Jan 23, 2019)

*76937 not with heart caths*



Jim Pawloski said:


> 76937 is for any vascular access, however it is considered part of the study and is not billable
> HTH,
> Jim Pawloski, CIRCC



Jim: I noticed where you also answered a similar question in January 2018 and stated per Dr. Z.  I have his references and cannot find where this is stated.  I'm currently waiting on the 2019 references.  Could you please include a page from 2018 reference (if you still have it) where this information is listed?  Thank you

Twilla Yanak, RHIT, CCS, CIRCC


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