Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: Our physician administered anesthesia for burn excision and debridement that covers 12 percent of the patient’s body. How do we code this?

Texas Subscriber

Answer: In this case when  your physician administers anesthesia for burn excision and debridement that covers 12 percent of the patient’s body, you will report with codes 01952 (Anesthesia for second and third degree burn excision or debridement with or without skin grafting, any site, for total body surface area [TBSA] treated during anesthesia and surgery; between four and nine percent of total body surface area)  and 01953 (… each additional nine percent total body surface area or part thereof [list separately in addition to code for primary procedure])  for a total of six base units, but only report the number of time units associated with 01952 – no additional time units for 01953.

Remember: Code 01952 is the primary anesthesia code for burn debridement. You should report it with five base units plus the appropriate time units. Code +01953 is an add-on code. It’s worth one additional base unit, but you do not report time for it.