Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: One of our anesthesiologists was working trauma, and a patient came in with an extremely severe asthma attack. To help stabilize the patient, they used the anesthesia machine to administer general anesthesia (GA) with isoflurane. Is it appropriate to bill an ASA code (i.e., 00300) plus time, or do we need to bill a high-level evaluation and management (E/M) service?

Colorado Subscriber

Answer: If your physician administered general anesthesia and kept an anesthesia record, you should be able to bill the service. However, based on your description of the situation, 00300 (Anesthesia for all procedures on the integumentary system, muscles and nerves of head, neck, and posterior trunk …) may not be the most appropriate code.

Do this: If the patient did not undergo surgery, report 01999 (Unlisted anesthesia procedure(s)) and include the patient’s physical and/or emergency status, if applicable. File the claim with a copy of all the medical records and chart notes. Depending on the payer, you may be paid for this special circumstance.