Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: I bill the physician portion of services performed at the hospital. Is there a way to report a bubble study interpretation? Delaware Subscriber Answer: CPT doesn't provide a code specific to the bubble study. A bubble study involves injecting agitated saline solution into the patient's vein and following it as it passes through the patient's heart. These tests typically provide added information to a regular echocardiogram. If you have documentation of the cardiologist's interpretation of the echo with spectral and color flow Doppler, you should report new-for-2009 code 93306 (Echocardiography, transthoracic, real-time with image documentation [2D], includes M-mode recording, when performed, complete, with spectral Doppler echocardiography, and with color flow Doppler echocardiography). Medicare won't offer additional reimbursement for the bubble study. Remember: You should append modifier 26 (Professional component) to the echocardiography codes if the physician performs the procedure in the hospital. You can verify which codes have professional [...]