Ob-Gyn Coding Alert

Question: My ob-gyn performed an ultrasound for retained products, and my co-worker said I should report this as an ob ultrasound. Is this right? The patient is no longer pregnant.

South Carolina Subscriber

Answer: You should consider the patient pregnant until she expels all products of conception. Your ob-gyn is performing the ultrasound because of suspected retained products -- hence, this is an ob ultrasound.

Also, you have to be able to match the diagnosis with the ultrasound type. The October 2001 CPT Assistant states:

For female patients with an established diagnosis of pregnancy, determined by any method, and/or with indications for the ultrasound procedure that might be pregnancy related, it is appropriate to report an obstetrical ultrasound code from the 76805-76815 series.

A missed AB means the fetus died and is still in the uterus, not that she is no longer pregnant.

In other words, the term pregnancy applies to the patient until the termination of the gestation. Again, this means that she has to expel all the products of conception before she is not pregnant anymore.