Inpatient Facility Coding & Compliance Alert
Reader Question:
Save 03.91 for Non-Surgery Administrations
Published on Tue Jun 11, 2013
Question: An anesthesiologist used both general anesthesia and an intrathecal during a patient’s total knee arthroplasty. Should we add 03.91 for the injection of anesthetic into the spinal cord for analgesia? There is an exclude note which states “that for operative anesthesia - omit code.” Suggestions?
Answer: Do not separately report 03.91 (Injection of anesthetic into spinal canal for analgesia), because the service is considered part of the knee surgery. The only time you should report 03.91 is when the analgesia is not administered in conjunction with a surgery.
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