Anesthesia Coding Alert
Skip Standby Time With Medicare Patients
Question: A surgeon has requested that our anesthesiologist be on stand-by for a procedure he plans to complete under local anesthesia. He’s requesting stand-by because the patient is in her 90s and the family does not want her put to sleep. Can we bill Medicare for the stand-by time?
Washington Subscriber
Answer: You can only bill Medicare for face-to-face time with the patient, so you won’t be able to charge for the stand-by time.
Alternative: Some anesthesia groups negotiate a contract rate with the facility for stand-by services. For non-Medicare payers, you can submit 99360 (Standby service, requiring prolonged attendance, each 30 minutes [e.g., operative standby, standby for frozen section, for cesarean/high risk delivery, for monitoring EEG]).
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