Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: Which catheterization code(s) should I report when the cardiologist uses the right femoral vein as the access point and advances the catheter to the right main pulmonary artery, performs an angiogram, moves to the left artery and performs an angiogram, and diagnoses pulmonary emboli? This was not a right heart catheterization. Colorado Subscriber? Answer: As you note, the cardiologist wasnt performing a right heart catheterization to measure heart function. You should code the service as described with 36014 (Selective catheter placement, left or right pulmonary artery). And because the service occurred in both the left and right arteries, you should report the code twice based on your payers preference. (And dont forget 75743 [Angiography, pulmonary, bilateral, selective, radiological supervision and interpretation] for the supervision and interpretation). You have to pay attention to anatomical descriptive terms when coding pulmonary cath placement. Main: If the radiologist had advanced the cath only [...]