Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: Our anesthesiologist worked with an interventional radiologist during a transjugular liver biopsy. What is the best anesthesia code for 37200 (Transcatheter biopsy)?

Wisconsin Subscriber

Answer: Code 37200 crosses to several anesthesia codes, which means you need to do more homework before assigning a code. Review the anatomically applicable codes on a caseby-case basis.

In this situation, consider 01931 (Anesthesia for therapeutic interventional radiological procedures involving the venous/lymphatic system [not to include access to the central circulation]; intrahepatic or portal circulation [e.g., transvenous intrahepatic portosystemic shunt[s] [TIPS]) for the liver. Then check 01932 (... intrathoracic or jugular) for the jugular. You'll normally choose the code with the higher base value, but 01931 and 01932 both have 7 base units. You can submit either 01931 or 01932 for a correct claim.