Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: A patient had two ventral hernias, one in the mid-abdomen and the other in the lower abdomen. What anesthesia codes do we report for two laparoscopic repairs of incisional hernias?

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Answer: If the patient has both an upper and lower abdominal hernia surgery, you should choose the higher-based procedure, when applicable. In this case, the base value is the same for either 00832 (Anesthesia for hernia repairs in lower abdomen; ventral and incisional hernias -Base 6) and 00752 (Anesthesia for hernia repairs in upper abdomen; lumbar and ventral {incisional} hernias and/or wound dehiscence - Base 6).

Although you only report one anesthesia code, you bill the total time for both procedures.

Check point: Your options change if the surgery involves intraperitoneal organs. In this case if both the upper and lower abdomen are involved, you want to report the upper abdomen as 00790 (Anesthesia for intraperitoneal procedures in the upper abdomen, including laparoscopy; not otherwise specified -- Base 7) carries a higher base value than 00840 (Anesthesia for intraperitoneal procedures in lower abdomen, including laparoscopy, not otherwise specified -- Base 6). Missing out on these cases will costs your practice one (1) unit for each error!