Cardiology Coding Alert

To further strengthen your case that the pre-op EKG is a separate, medically necessary procedure and requires extra physician work, take a look at two crucial professional interpretation documentation tips offered by CIGNA Medicare:
 

 Make sure the documentation includes complete and detailed test results. Brief notations such as "agree" or the provider's signature on a computerized report would be merely a "review" of the findings and included in the E/M services.
 
For example, if the cardiologist notes "EKG normal" for 93010 (Electrocardiogram, routine ECG with at least 12 leads; interpretation and report only), this would not suffice as a separately payable "interpretation and report." An interpretation and report should address the findings, give comparisons to previous findings, and include comments on relevant clinical issues such as "the EKG reveals changes consistent with prior inferior myocardial infarction." Submit both the signed EKG computer results and the physician's written interpretation, says Belinda Inabinet, CPC, technical support manager and head of the coding team at South Carolina Heart Center, a 21-physician practice in Columbia, S.C. 
 

 If you're billing a CPT codes or HCPCS codes that includes both professional and technical components, Medicare requires a physician's written interpretation of the procedure. Reimbursement for the professional component requires that the physician demonstrate careful interpretive work.