Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: We have an anesthesiologist who does what he calls a blood spinning procedure during patient surgery. What exactly is this, and is it something I can bill for? If so, what code or codes would I use?

Pennsylvania Subscriber

Answer: Although more information about the process might help your case, this is probably not a billable service. This is because your anesthesiologist is paid through the time element of the procedure. Tracking blood coagulation, sugars, and red blood cell volume are considered part of monitoring. Additional payment is  sually not provided to the anesthesia personnel for this.

The term "blood spinning" is not a recognized medical term, so it may describe one of a few similar procedures. Your physician may be referring to an ACT, which is "activated clotting time" or "activated coagulation time" and is represented by CPT code 85347 (Coagulation time; activated). The process may also be a hematocrit (HCT), which measures the amount of red blood cells in proportion to the rest of blood volume.

Another type of blood spinning has been commonly found in sports headlines in recent years. Athletes may use blood spinning in order to shorten injury time. In those situations, a small sample of blood is spun in a centrifuge to increase the concentration of growth hormones. Other minerals, such as calcium, are sometimes added, and the spun blood is injected into the wound.

ACT procedures are not commonly used in clinical settings, but when they are, they are done during vascular surgeries. You should check with your individual payers to confirm their policies on this procedure before billing.