ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Question: What is the minimum requirement for reporting 30901 (Control nasal hemorrhage, anterior, simple [limited cautery and/or packing] any method)? Is packing the bare minimum? If a physician sprays with Afrin, clamps the patient's nose for 15 minutes and, after observing no more bleeding, sends the patient home without packing or cautery, and instructs the patient to use ocean spray -- this doesn't qualify for 30901, does it?

Oregon Subscriber

Answer: To report 30901, the service must have involved some type of cautery (such as a silver nitrate stick) or some minimal packing (such as a temporary pledget). Afrin is a vasoconstrictor, but it doesn't qualify as cautery, in which the end of the vessel must be burned somehow.

Just so you know, to report 30903 (Control nasal hemorrhage, anterior, complex [extensive cautery and/or packing] an method), the service must have involved either: extensive cautery, such as multiple attempts using a simple method (a silver nitrate stick) or a more involved cautery (cocaine packing or electorcautery); or extensive packing, which would entail more than a temporary pledget, and would include a nasal tampon or formal Vaseline gauze.