Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: I would like to know if we can bill 93016 and 93018 in conjunction with each other in an inpatient setting, or is that considered unbundling?

Robin Hughes
Chesapeake, Va.

Answer: In the hospital setting, there are many tests where different providers perform different aspects of the test. You may bill 93016 (cardiovascular stress test using maximal or submaximal treadmill or bicycle exercise, continuous electrocardiographic monitoring, and/or pharmacological stress; physician supervision only, without interpretation and report) and 93018 (interpretation and report only) if your provider did both, says Felecia Bernstein, CPC, a coding and reimbursement specialist in Monmouth County, N.J.

When your physician supervises the stress test performed in a hospital, 93016 may be billed, says Susan Callaway-Stradley, CPC, CCS-P, a coding and reimbursement specialist in North Augusta, S.C. If a separate, signed written report of the findings of the stress test is provided, 93018 also may be charged. By breaking these service into individual components, it simplifies the billing for situations where one physician supervises the test and another interprets the findings, adds Callaway-Stradley.