Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: The surgeon performed a Greenfield filter procedure, going through the femoral artery to the vena cava and placing a mesh filter to hold back clogs. The surgical code is 37620. What is the best anesthesia code?

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Answer: Crosswalk lists two anesthesia codes for 37620 (Interruption, partial or complete, of inferior vena cava by suture, ligation, placation, clip, extravascular, intravascular [umbrella device]): 00882 (Anesthesia for procedures on major lower abdominal vessels; inferior vena cava ligation), which is 10 base units, and 01930 (Anesthesia for therapeutic interventional radiologic procedures involving the venous/lymphatic system [not to include access to the central circulation]; not otherwise specified), which is 5 units. Choose the correct code based on whether the procedure is open in the operating room (OR), or percutaneous in the radiology department. If it's in the OR, use 00882; if it's in radiology, use 01930.
 
It sounds as if this physician performed the procedure percutaneously by threading up through the femoral artery to the vena cava (as in an interventional radiology procedure). If that's the case, report 01930.