Anesthesia Coding Alert
Reader Question:
Closed Fundoplication Points to 00740
Published on Tue Apr 22, 2014
Question: The surgeon completed a transoral incisionless fundoplication for GERD. Surgical notes refer to it as “an intraoperative EGD performed after induction of anesthesia.” Would the anesthesia code be 00500 or 00740?
Colorado Subscriber
Answer: The correct choice is 00740 (Anesthesia for upper gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures, endoscope introduced proximal to duodenum), which carries five base units. The other code you mentioned, 00500 (Anesthesia for all procedures on esophagus) is only used for open procedures on the esophagus. The base units are much higher (15) because of the open approach.
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