Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: Our physician provided anesthesia during surgery to place a stress incontinence sling. How do I know which code to submit?

Idaho Subscriber

Answer: Several surgical codes apply to stress incontinence slings, including 51992 (Laparoscopy, surgical; sling operation for stress incontinence [e.g., fascia or synthetic]), 53440 (Sling operation for correction of male urinary incontinence [e.g., fascia or synthetic]), and 57288 (Sling operation for stress incontinence [e.g., fascia or synthetic]). Each of these crosses to 00860 (Anesthesia for extraperitoneal procedures in lower abdomen, including urinary tract; not otherwise specified) as the primary anesthesia option. Code 51992 also lists 00840 (Anesthesia for intraperitoneal procedures in lower abdomen including laparoscopy; not otherwise specified) as an alternate code.

Make your choice: If 51992 is the appropriate surgical code, you'll need to choose whether 00860 or 00840 is the better anesthesia option. The primary deciding factor will be whether you're coding for an extraperitoneal or intraperitoneal procedure.