Anesthesia Coding Alert

Imminent danger means its time to call on 99140. Whats the difference between an unexpected procedure and an emergency? It could be a matter of supporting +99140 third-party payments. Although Medicare and commercial carriers that follow Medicare guidelines consider +99140 a bundled and non-separately payable service, third-party payers may reimburse the emergency code. Before getting a revenue boost from this add-on code, follow these principles to avoid payback requests for improper +99140 use. Restrict 99140 to CPT Defined Emergency Make sure you dont incorrectly select +99140 (Anesthesia complicated by emergency conditions [specify] [List separately in addition to code for primary anesthesia procedure]) to indicate an unanticipated, unexpected procedure that a physician performed. The word emergency distinguishes +99140 from anesthesia that needs to be performed on the fly. Some physicians maintain that unexpected events qualify as emergencies. In our audits, we find that providers indicate emergency for after-hours or weekends, says [...]