Opt for E/M Service When Physician Provides Vent Management -- Usually
Published on Mon Oct 26, 2009
Most ED physicians provide service in course of larger E/M. While it's true that the ED is ground zero for "anything can happen," ED coders will have few opportunities to report ventilation management codes -- but that does not mean your physician won't provide ventilation management services. Explanation: There's usually a better coding course of action to accurately capture your physician's services -- namely, choosing an E/M code over a 9400x code. Check out this advice on best practice for coding your ED physician's ventilation management services. Vent Management Codes: An ED Anomaly The two ventilation management services your ED physician could theoretically provide are represented by 94002 (Ventilation assist and management, initiation of pressure or volume preset ventilators for assisted or controlled breathing; hospital inpatient/observation; initial day) and 94003 (... hospital inpatient/observation, each subsequent day). Though any physician can report these codes, they are mostly used by pulmonologists, explains Alan L. [...]
