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Anesthesia Coding Alert

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Check Out NOS Anesthesia for Pediatric Blood Draw

Published on Mon May 18, 2009

Question: What anesthesia code should I use for a 5-year-old who was given general anesthesia for a blood draw? The actual anesthesia time was 20 minutes. California Subscriber Answer: Although anesthesia is not typically required for a simple blood draw, a pediatric patient sometimes does need anesthesia service. This falls under 00400 (Anesthesia for procedures on the integumentary system on the extremities, anterior trunk and perineum; not otherwise specified) provided the blood was taken from one of the child's extremities. Modifier: Presuming your carrier recognizes modifiers, modifier 23 (Unusual anesthesia) may be appended after any other applicable payment modifiers.
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