Cardiology Coding Alert

Watch for this variation to the Ultratag kit.Set aside a little time to confirm your MUGA coding skills are still top notch. Review this sample scenario, and then see how your answer compares to the expert's.Scenario: The cardiologist performs a nuclear medicine MUGA scan using TC-99m pertechnetate diagnostic. He administers 30 millicuries during the procedure. He also uses a cold pyrophosphate solution kit. He doesn't use the Ultratag kit.Set Your Sights on the SolutionFor the MUGA (multiple gated acquisition) scan, you should report 78472 (Cardiac blood pool imaging, gated equilibrium; planar, single study at rest or stress [exercise and/or pharmacologic], wall motion study plus ejection fraction, with or without additional quantitative processing), says Terry A. Fletcher, BS, CPC, CCS-P, CCS, CEMC, CCC, CMSCS, CMC, a healthcare coding consultant in Laguna Beach, Calif. The cold pyrophosphate solution coding is not as simple. Some payers may consider this incidental to the procedure [...]