Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

Question: A physician at our hospital ordered intravenous hydration for a pediatric patient who had diarrhea as a result of treatment. The infusion lasted 20 minutes. May I report 90760?

Oklahoma Subscriber

Answer: You could have reported the hydration with 90760 (Intravenous infusion, hydration; initial, 31 minutes to 1 hour) if the claim was in 2007. CPT 2008 adds two criteria to the hydration codes. Your scenario fails to meet either of these requirements:

1. Place of service (POS): When you-re coding for the physician, the service must not occur in a facility (a hospital or nursing home, for example). CPT 2008 introductory notes for "hydration, therapeutic, prophylactic, and diagnostic injections and infusions (excluding chemotherapy)" state, "These codes are not intended to be reported by the physician in the facility setting."

You are in a facility setting, so you should not report hydration services for the physician. You can, however, still report 90760-90761 in the office setting (POS 11).

2. Time: The hydration must last 31 minutes or more. The AMA revised 90760's descriptor for 2008 to "31 minutes to 1 hour" from "up to 1 hour."

"Do not report intravenous infusion for hydration of 30 minutes or less," according to an added parenthetical CPT instruction following +90761 (- each additional hour [list separately in addition to code for primary procedure]).

Don't miss: You can still report the oncologist's or hematologist's E/M service for the diarrhea that led to the hydration with the appropriate-level office visit code (99201-99215, Office or other outpatient visit ...).

-- The answers for You Be the Coder and Reader Questions were reviewed by Cindy C. Parman, CPC, CPC-H, RCC, co-owner of Coding Strategies Inc. in Powder Springs, Ga., and past-president of the American Academy of Professional Coders National Advisory Board.