Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: An ER physician performed an endotracheal intubation. The code I come up with for endotracheal intubation is CPT 31500. What is the anesthesia crosswalk code for this?

North Carolina Subscriber

Answer: No ASA anesthesia code crosswalks to 31500 (Intubation, endotracheal, emergency procedure);there is no time associated with the code. Emergency endotracheal intubation is a flat-fee service.

The performing physician reports the CPT code. Since your ER physician did the endotracheal intubation, bill 31500 (Intubation, endotracheal, emergency procedure) with time. If the anesthesiologist would have performed the procedure, you would bill 31500 without time.