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Anesthesia Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Using Existing Epidural Means You Only Bill Time

Published on Tue Jul 26, 2011

Question: The obstetrician placed an epidural for labor and delivery, but the patient needed a c-section. Our anesthesiologist was called in for the c-section and used the already existing epidural for injecting additional anesthesia. How should I code the anesthesiologist's service?Florida SubscriberAnswer: This one is a little tricky because reporting the patient's conversion to a c-section when the obstetrician placed the epidural is hard to explain with the codes available. If the carrier allows, you may be able to report +01968 (Anesthesia for cesarean delivery following neuraxial labor analgesia/ anesthesia [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure performed]). Submit the claim with records showing that the obstetrician placed the epidural. You may bill the anesthesiologist's time for the c-section and the full value of code +01968 (which is 3 base units). However, since +01968 is an add-on code, your carrier may require that you report 01967 as a [...]
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