Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: When the cardiologist injects both the left coronary and the right during a cardiac cath, may we report 93545 twice?

Tennessee Subscriber

Answer: You should report 93545 (Injection procedure during cardiac catheterization; for selective coronary angiography [injection of radiopaque material may be by hand) once per catheterization, according to CPT Assistant (November 2002).

Although CPT considers each of the codes in the range of 93539-93545 (Injection procedure during cardiac catheterization ...) separately identifiable and separately reportable, you should report each individual code only once per catheterization.

Don't forget: Be sure that you also capture the following:

• The cardiac catheterization (such as 93508, Catheter placement in coronary artery[s], arterial coronary conduit[s], and/or venous coronary bypass graft[s] for coronary angiography without concomitant left heart catheterization) • Imaging supervision and interpretation (S&I) and report (such as 93556, Imaging supervision, interpretation and report for injection procedure[s] during cardiac catheterization; pulmonary angiography, aortography, and/or selective coronary angiography including venous bypass grafts and arterial conduits [whether native or used in bypass]).

And append modifier 26 (Professional component) to the cath and S&I codes if you're reporting only the physician's work and not the technical component.

-- You Be the Coder and Reader Questions prepared with the assistance of Jim Collins, CCC, CPC, ACS-CA, CHCC, president of CardiologyCoder.Com.