Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: Our physician provided anesthesia while another physician inserted a vertebral artery catheter (36100). The carrier denied the claim when we submitted 00320 with V46.11 as the primary diagnosis. What did we do wrong? Wyoming Subscriber       Answer: Surgical code 36100 (Introduction of needle or intracatheter, carotid or vertebral artery) crosses to two anesthesia codes: 00350 (Anesthesia for procedures on major vessels of neck; not otherwise specified)) and 01916 (Anesthesia for diagnostic arteriography/venography).
Check with your physician to see if 01916 better represents the procedure. For the diagnosis, V46.11 (Dependence on respirator, status) isn't adequate for the procedure. ICD-9 lists ICD-9 V46.11 as a secondary diagnosis, which means it supports another, more detailed diagnosis. Talk with your physician or check the operative report for an appropriate primary diagnosis before adding V46.11 to your claim.