Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: A surgeon dealt with an emergent case soon after starting a procedure with our anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist had already induced the patient, so he transferred her to the recovery room until the surgeon was ready to resume the procedure. How should we bill for this case?

Oklahoma Subscriber

Answer: You can bill for both trips to the OR as long as the anesthesiologist was in attendance during those times. Simply add the times for both blocks together for the anesthesia total, or subtract the interruption time from the beginning and final end times.

For example, say the anesthesia time began at 0650 until 0810, then the patient returned to the OR at 0843 and anesthesia time ended at 0916. Your first block of time equals 80 minutes, the interruption equals 33 minutes, and the second block of OR time equals 33 minutes. You can add the two OR times together (80 + 33 = 113 minutes) or can subtract the interruption from the case's complete time (146 ��" 33 = 113 minutes).

Filing: How you report the time depends on the payer and your billing software. Some payers want only one start and stop time, but others accept multiple start and stop times. If you report only one start and stop time, you might have to change your concurrency modifiers if the anesthesiologist directed any other cases during the break.