Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: How do the 2010 changes to electrode repositioning codes affect our coding? Florida Subscriber Answer: The main difference between the 2009 and 2010 descriptors for 33216, 33217, and 33223 is that the new descriptors don't reference the number of chambers. 33216, 33217: Code descriptors for 33216 and 33217 now focus on the number of electrodes rather than the device type. The 2009 code descriptors were as follows: • 33216 -- Insertion of a transvenous electrode; single chamber (one electrode) permanent pacemaker or single chamber pacing cardioverter-defibrillator • 33217 -- Insertion of a transvenous electrode; dual chamber (two electrodes) permanent pacemaker or dual chamber pacing cardioverter-defibrillator. But in 2010, CPT eliminates the single and dual chamber references: • 33216 -- Insertion of a single transvenous electrode, permanent pacemaker or cardioverter-defibrillator • 33217 -- Insertion of 2 transvenous electrodes, permanent pacemaker or cardioverter-defibrillator. Benefit: You may have struggled in the past with what to code [...]