Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: Should I report 93015 with the codes for stress echocardiograms: 93350, 93320 and 93325? I haven't been billing 93015 because the code description for 93350 includes exercise stress test. What is the correct billing?

Florida Subscriber

Answer: Yes, you should report 93015 (Cardiovascular stress test using maximal or submaximal treadmill or bicycle exercise, continuous electrocardiographic monitoring, and/or pharmacological stress; with physician supervision, with interpretation and report), 93350 (Echocardiography, transthoracic, real-time with image documentation [2D], with or without M-mode recording, during rest and cardiovascular stress test using treadmill, bicycle exercise and/or pharmacologically induced stress, with interpretation and report), and add-on codes +93320 (Doppler echocardiography ...) and +93325 (Doppler echocardiography color flow velocity mapping ...) if the documentation supports that the physician performed these procedures. See the CPT statement in parentheses under the description of 93350: "The appropriate stress testing code from the 93015-93018 series should be reported in addition to 93350 to capture the exercise stress portion of the study."
 
Code 93350 describes stress echocardiography only and does not include the cardiovascular stress portion of the procedure. Consequently, you need to report 93015 to cover services for the cardiovascular stress component. 

  Answers to You Be the Coder and Reader Questions provided by Martha Tracy, CPC, a professional coder and reimbursement specialist for Cardiology Services in Olathe, Kan.