Anesthesia Coding Alert

Keep this easy tip in mind to combat +01968 denials. When a labor and delivery case spans two days and results in an unplanned cesarean section, payment for the secondary anesthesia hinges on you painting the correct date-of-service story. Otherwise, the insurer might deny +01968 (Anesthesia for cesarean delivery following neuraxial analgesia/ anesthesia [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure performed]). That's what happened to subscriber Arlene Soriano with Riverdale Anesthesia in Georgia. The case: A patient began epidural labor on one day that crossed over into the next. On the second day, her physician decided to deliver the baby by c-section. The same anesthesiologist was in attendance for the entire labor and delivery. Coding +01968 Alone Raises Questions Soriano reported 01967 (Neuraxial labor analgesia/anesthesia for planned vaginal delivery [this includes any repeat subarachnoid needle placement and drug injection and/or any necessary replacement of an epidural catheter during [...]