Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: My cardiologist made an incision in the patient’s arm to access the artery. They inserted a catheter with a rotating blade and inflated a balloon-tipped catheter in the blocked area of the coronary artery. My cardiologist inserted a stent to expand the narrowed walls of the vessel to treat an occlusion during a heart attack. They removed plaque from the lining of an artery. My cardiologist performed this procedure to restore the recently blocked coronary artery during an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Which CPT^® code should I report on my claim?

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Answer: You should report code 92941 (Percutaneous transluminal revascularization of acute total/subtotal occlusion during acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery or coronary artery bypass graft, any combination of intracoronary stent, atherectomy and angioplasty, including aspiration thrombectomy when performed, single vessel). Code 92941 is an example of a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Don’t miss: Code 92941 includes aspiration thrombectomy, when performed. In this case, aspiration thrombectomy is not required, but you should not report aspiration thrombectomy separately when your provider performs it.