Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: If a patient has a laparoscopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy, which anesthesia CPT® code applies? One opinion is that if the work is done abdominally, it should be 00840. Another opinion is that even if the work is done abdominally, we should bill 00944 if the speculum is removed vaginally.

Virginia Subscriber

Answer: LAVH crosswalks to both 00944 (Anesthesia for a vaginal hysterectomy) and 00840 (Anesthesia for intraperitoneal procedures in lower abdomen including laparoscopy); each code carries six base units. As both anesthesia codes have the same base value, the determining factor for a code choice is which better describes the anesthesia service provided. Based on what you describe, 00944 is more descriptive.