Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: Our anesthesiologist dictated a separate operative note during a procedure stating, -fiberoptic intubation for difficult airway.- His reasons were the patient's -thick neck- and -decreased range of motion.- Can we submit an additional code for the intubation?


Florida Subscriber

Answer: CPT includes 31500 (Intubation, endotracheal, emergency procedure), but you should submit it only for emergency intubations.

The base value for anesthesia services includes standard intubation, which means your physician should not bill this one separately. In terms of reimbursement for the level of difficulty, it does have some payback in that the difficult airway adds to the procedure in terms of time billed.