Steer Clear of a Tempting $120 ABI Blunder
Published on Sat Jan 03, 2009
5 essentials help keep your noninvasive study codes watertight Your practice may use ankle/brachial indices (ABIs) to help diagnose some of the 8 million Americans who have peripheral arterial disease. But if you miss CPT's guidance on hardcopies for noninvasive arterial studies, you could be headed for trouble. Work your way through these five important rules to keep your accuracy rate at its best. 1. Single vs. Multiple Matters Take a close look at the descriptors for these noninvasive arterial study codes: • 93922 -- Non-invasive physiologic studies of upper or lower extremity arteries, single level, bilateral (e.g., ankle/brachial indices, Doppler waveform analysis, volume plethysmography, transcutaneous oxygen tension measurement) • 93923 -- Non-invasive physiologic studies of upper or lower extremity arteries, multiple levels or with provocative functional maneuvers, complete bilateral study (e.g., segmental blood pressure measurements, segmental Doppler waveform analysis, segmental volume plethysmography, segmental transcutaneous oxygen tension measurements, measurements with postural provocative [...]