Cardiology Coding Alert

You may need to watch 'rendering physician' choices, too. Place of service isn't the only sticky wicket CMS addresses in Transmittal 1823. It also includes which date of service (DOS) to report for an interpretation performed at a later date than the study: "The appropriate DOS for the professional component is the actual calendar date that the interpretation was performed." Example: The patient has a Holter study (such as 93225, Wearable electrocardiographic rhythm derived monitoring for 24 hours ... recording [includes connection, recording, and disconnection) on April 30, and the cardiologist performs the interpretation (93227, ... physician review and interpretation) on May 2. The DOS for the test is April 30, and the DOS for the interpretation is May 2. This clarification could prove to be "a thorn in the paw of virtually every cardiology practice," warns Jim Collins, CCC, president of CardiologyCoder.Com in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Cardiology offices often [...]