Ob-Gyn Coding Alert

Question: An hour after a patient delivered, the ob-gyn performed a limited pelvic ultrasound (US) to verify remains of placenta left behind. Should I code this as an ob ultrasound or non-ob?

Kansas Subscriber

Answer: You should probably use the limited ob ultrasound code 76815 (Ultrasound, pregnant uterus, real time with image documentation, limited [e.g., fetal heart beat, placental location, fetal position and/or qualitative amniotic fluid volume], one or more fetuses) in this case, because the ob-gyn looked for  "placental location."  Also, the diagnoses will be retained products of conception (from the 666 or 667 category diagnostic codes), so the diagnosis will match.