Cardiology Coding Alert
Be Sure About the Kind of Echo
Question: My cardiologist wants to perform a bi-ventricular optimization echo interrogation with programming in the office. Should we use 93799 for this procedure? Answer: Instead of 93799 (Unlisted cardiovascular service or procedure), many practices are using the limited echo code 93308 (Echocardiography, transthoracic, real-time with image documentation [2D] with or without M-mode recording; follow-up or limited study). Your cardiologist may also perform a color flow, which you would report using +93325 (Doppler echocardiography color flow velocity mapping [list separately in addition to codes for echocardiography]). In order to know the correct codes to use, you need to be sure exactly what kind of echo your cardiologist performs, because sometimes this can be a full echo. You should report one of these codes because the cardiologist performs this service on the same day. Choose a code depending on whether the biventricular device is a defibrillator or pacemaker.
Kansas Subscriber
Cardiologists typically use Doppler to conduct echo optimization, which you would report using one of the following codes:
You'll mostly find that the procedure is limited, however. For the appropriate pacer/ICD check code, you should report one of the following two codes:
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