Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: We usually code TIVAs (total intravenous anesthesia) as monitored anesthesia care (MAC), but some coders say this is incorrect. How should we code these cases?

Kentucky Subscriber
 
Answer: Physicians can use the TIVA technique to maintain all levels of anesthesia - the term TIVA only tells how the physician administers the drugs, not the level of anesthesia he obtains. If a physician told you that MAC was incorrect for a certain case, it could be that he converted the procedure from MAC to general anesthesia.

Talk to the physician or CRNA who documents TIVA to determine exactly what he or she means by the abbreviation. Be sure everyone in your group uses the abbreviation in the same way and that they note in the patient's chart if a case moves from MAC or TIVA to general anesthesia.