# Brain death exam



## klbecker (Oct 13, 2011)

Has anyone heard of a brain death exam?  I have a Neurosurgeon who said he performed one.  He said he performed 2 discreate exams several hours apart.  Eash exam included the following elements: 1) coma or unresponsiveness 2) absence of brain stem reflex 3) ocular movement 4) facial sensation and motor response 5) pharyngeal and tracheal reflexes 6) apnea test.  I have not been able to find any code that would fit this.  Two codes that I found that may fit this is billing for critical care or hospital discharge services (he did pronounce the patients death).  Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated.


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## FTessaBartels (Oct 14, 2011)

*Hospital E/M*

It will either be hospital subsequent visits, critical care (IF he documented time and it is more than 30 minutes face-to-face), or discharge (IF he pronounced the death). 

Hope that helps.

F Tessa Bartels, CPC, CEMC


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## gonzalez10 (Sep 4, 2015)

But what if the provider did critical care earlier in the day and then later performs a brain death exam? Can the provider still get credit for the brain death exam and if so what code would that be?


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## ehanna (Sep 4, 2015)

klbecker said:


> Has anyone heard of a brain death exam?  I have a Neurosurgeon who said he performed one.  He said he performed 2 discreate exams several hours apart.  Eash exam included the following elements: 1) coma or unresponsiveness 2) absence of brain stem reflex 3) ocular movement 4) facial sensation and motor response 5) pharyngeal and tracheal reflexes 6) apnea test.  I have not been able to find any code that would fit this.  Two codes that I found that may fit this is billing for critical care or hospital discharge services (he did pronounce the patients death).  Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated.



Was this perhaps done by EEG? There is a death determination EEG. Look at 95824 and see if this helps you.


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