Anesthesia Coding Alert

Tip: Medicare doesn't reimburse, but other payers still might.Traditional Medicare plans never cover qualifying circumstances (QC) codes +99100-+99140, but that doesn't mean you should steer clear of reporting them to other payers. Read on for three areas to watch before adding any QC codes to your claims:+99100 -- Anesthesia for patient of extreme age, younger than 1 year and older than 70 (List separately in addition to code for primary anesthesia procedure)+99116 -- Anesthesia complicated by utilization of total body hypothermia (List separately in addition to code for primary anesthesia procedure)+99135 -- Anesthesia complicated by utilization of controlled hypotension (List separately in addition to code for primary anesthesia procedure)+99140 -- Anesthesia complicated by emergency conditions (specify) (List separately in addition to code for primary anesthesia procedure).Watch your non-Medicare payers' definitions for +99100, advises Tacy Brown of Mountain West Anesthesia in Salt Lake City, because they might interpret "older than 70" differently. "Some payers assume [...]