Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: What are the codes for ICE (intracardiac echocardiography)?


California subscriber

Answer: For ICE, you'll report +93662 (Intracardiac echocardiography during therapeutic/diagnostic intervention, including imaging supervision and interpretation [list separately in addition to code for primary procedure]). You can only use it with electrophysiology studies (93621-93622) and ablations (93651-93652).

If your cardiologist performs this service, for example, in a catheterization lab following a catheterization/stent procedure, you may need to use unlisted-procedure code 93799 (Unlisted cardiovascular service or procedure). You should check with your payers.

Remember, unlisted-procedure codes are automatically reviewed. Therefore, you should submit your claim manually with the patient's record, which should clearly and accurately document the intracardiac echocardiogram and why the cardiologist performed it. The carrier is likely to scrutinize the notes to determine if this service qualifies as a "medically necessary" service.
 
And, you should determine a price for the service because unlisted procedures are not on the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. You may use the fee for 93662-26 (Professional component) as a guide to determine the correct fee for 93799.