Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: One of our physicians wants to bill 93272 (patient demand single or multiple event recording with presymptom memory loop, per 30 day period of time; physician review and interpretation only) multiple times within a 30-day period. My understanding is that this code can be billed only once after the 30 days and not each time the physician reviews a transmission. Who is correct?

Georgia Subscriber

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Answer: The current event monitor codes (93268-93272) include 30 days of monitoring, says Stacey Elliott, CPC, business manager with COR Healthcare Medical Consultants, an 11-physician practice in Torrance, Calif.

The principle is the same as that applied to Holter monitor codes. The Holter monitor stays on for 24 hours, and the cardiologist is reimbursed for his or her interpretation even if the patient experiences no problems. Similarly, the cardiologist is reimbursed for the 30-day event recorder (although at a higher rate than for a Holter monitor) regardless of the number of events.