Cardiology Coding Alert
Reader Question:
Echo, Stress Echo Bundled
Published on Tue Feb 01, 2000
Question: If you are doing a stress echo on a patient that hasnt had a recent echo done, and you do a baseline study, can you charge for the baseline as a separate study, or should it be bundled with the routine stress echo?
Anonymous Texas Subscriber
Answer: The national Correct Coding Initiative bundles 93307 (echocardiography, transthoracic, real-time with image documentation [2D] with or without M-mode recording; complete) into 93350 (echocardiography, transthoracic, real-time with image documentation [2D], with or without M-mode recording, during rest and cardiovascular stress test using treadmill, bicycle exercise and/or pharmacologically induced stress, with interpretation and report). The only time you could charge for it is if the first test came back with an abnormality that led to the decision to perform the stress echo.
Anonymous Texas Subscriber
Answer: The national Correct Coding Initiative bundles 93307 (echocardiography, transthoracic, real-time with image documentation [2D] with or without M-mode recording; complete) into 93350 (echocardiography, transthoracic, real-time with image documentation [2D], with or without M-mode recording, during rest and cardiovascular stress test using treadmill, bicycle exercise and/or pharmacologically induced stress, with interpretation and report). The only time you could charge for it is if the first test came back with an abnormality that led to the decision to perform the stress echo.
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