Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: The anesthesiologist personally provided anesthesia service for a patient undergoing spinal surgery that included a laminectomy and insertion of Harrington rods. The patient is relatively healthy other than the spinal condition. What CPT® code and modifiers (physical status modifier and modifier identifying the provider) should we use? 

Wisconsin Subscriber 

Answer: The most likely code to report is 00670 (Anesthesia for extensive spine and spinal cord procedures [e.g., spinal instrumentation or vascular procedures]) because it represents anesthesia during extensive spine procedures (such as those including spinal instrumentation like Harrington rod insertion). It has a base unit value of 13. 

If the patient is in good health, the physical status modifier would be P1 (A normal healthy patient). 

We can’t pinpoint the anesthesiologist’s work modifier without knowing about other concurrent cases. If he performed anesthesia during this case and wasn’t medically directing or medically supervising any other anesthesia providers at the time, you would report HCPCS modifier AA for personally performed anesthesia by the anesthesiologist.