Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: Our group was asked if one of our providers could be on standby during a cash pay stem cell injection procedure. An anesthesiologist agreed to be on standby, but her services were not needed. Are we able to bill anything for her time (the Medicare carrier is Novitas)?

Texas Subscriber

Answer: CMS and many other payers don’t pay for 99360 (Standby service, requiring prolonged attendance, each 30 minutes (eg, operative standby, standby for frozen section, for cesarean/high risk delivery, for monitoring EEG)), so the physician may not be able to charge for standby time. As this was a cash pay patient, if the anesthesiologist wanted to bill for the standby service time, the patient should have signed a waiver accepting financial responsibility before services were provided.

Don’t give up: Some payers might reimburse for 99360, however. If a third-party payer does reimburse for 99360, then be sure the physician has documented the standby service with something such as: I was requested by [DOCTOR’S NAME] to be on standby for [PROCEDURE] performed on [PATIENT’S NAME] on [DATE]. I arrived at the facility at [ARRIVAL TIME] and departed at [DEPARTURE TIME].

Important: When standby care is requested, both the requesting physician and providing physician must document the need for standby care regardless of whether a claim for reimbursement is submitted.

If you submit a claim, be sure to follow the CPT^® guidelines for 99360, which include:

• Another physician must document in writing the request for the standby service.
• The standby physician must not provide care to other patients during the standby period.
• The standby physician should not submit 99360 for any service of less than 30 minutes total on that date of service. You may report an additional unit of 99360 for each additional 30 minutes, meaning another full 30 minutes of standby service.