Anesthesia Coding Alert

Modifiers give more details, but not extra pay.Your monitored anesthesia care (MAC) coding just got a little more complicated: Some payers -- such as CMS contractor NHIC -- recently posted updated anesthesia billing guidelines, leading coders to question how to report the modifiers with MAC. If you're wondering how to proceed, pair our experts' advice with your local policies for fail-proof MAC modifier coding.Use 3 Examples to Apply MAC ModifiersWhen your anesthesiologist provides MAC, you'll report the anesthesia service code as usual, plus the appropriate MAC modifier (or modifiers, in some cases). Your choices include:Modifier G8 -- Monitored anesthesia care (MAC) for deep complex, complicated, or markedly invasive surgical procedureModifier G9 -- Monitored anesthesia care for patient who has history of severe cardiopulmonary conditionModifier QS -- Monitored anesthesia care service."QS is the modifier you use unless you have special circumstances for G8 or G9," explains Ellie-Ann J. Marchese, CCS-P, CANPC, coding supervisor at Suffolk [...]