Take a Crack at Tough PM and Anesthesia Questions
Published on Thu Jan 08, 2009
Did you conquer the coding conundrums of 2008? Find out now. As you wrap up that last superbill of 2008, take a few minutes to see how well you've retained some knowledge about these five tough or quirky coding elements from past issues of Anesthesiology and Pain Management Coding Alert. Grab your coding manuals and a pencil to get started! Question 1: Your pain management specialist inserts a catheter for a continuous femoral block for acute postoperative pain management for a patient on long-term opioid medications who had an open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) for a distal femur fracture (such as 27506-27507 or 27511-27514). Your physician informs you that he did post-op "rounds" on the patient for two days to monitor the continuous infusion. The pain management catheter insertion procedure is separately billable. TRUE FALSE Hint: Newsletter Vol. 10, No. 5, might help you out. Question 2: Your anesthesiologist provides [...]