Anesthesia Coding Alert
Spinal Anesthesia Outranks Intrathecal Injection In Terms of Coding
Question: The anesthesiologist administered an intrathecal morphine injection in conjunction with spinal anesthesia during a Cesarean section. How should I code each portion of the case? Wyoming Subscriber Answer: Submit only 01961 (Anesthesia for cesarean delivery only) for the spinal anesthesia. You are not allowed to bill separately for the intrathecal injection since it was administered in conjunction with anesthesia for the C-section. However, you can include the time associated with the intrathecal injection administration with the total procedure time. Caveat: You will sometimes have cases that merit billing the delivery anesthesia and postoperative pain management separately. For example, if your provider administers general anesthesia during the delivery and uses spinal anesthesia primarily for post-op pain management (instead of as the primary method of anesthesia during the delivery), you can report both administrations if your provider has clear documentation of their being used for separate purposes.
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