Anesthesia Coding Alert
Choose Correctly for TAP Catheter Insertion
Question: What is a TAP catheter, and what's the correct code for insertion?
West Virginia Subscriber
Answer: Providers sometime use transverses abdominis plane (TAP) catheters as an alternative to epidural analgesia after upper abdominal surgery. An anesthesiologist might use a TAP catheter as an adjunct to his anesthesia during an abdominal laparoscopic procedure.
Before coding, determine two factors: whether your provider inserted the TAP catheter for postoperative pain management, and whether the provider inserted the catheter in the inguinal nerve. If the catheter is for post-op pain management, report either 64425 (Injection, anesthetic agent; ilioinguinal, iliohypogastric nerves) or 64450 (Injection, anesthetic agent; other peripheral nerve or branch), based on the injection site.
If the physician used the block as part of anesthesia during the surgery -- not for postoperative pain management -- you shouldn't report it in addition to the primary anesthesia.
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