Part B Coding Coach:
Check These 10 Surgical Changes for 2013 to Start the New Year on the Right Coding Track
Published on Fri Dec 14, 2012
Catheter changes lead the charge.
You’ll be using CPT® 2013 codes before you know it, so let our experts give you a crash course in what’s new for the coming year that might impact your surgeons.
Big change: "Continuing the trend to revise catheter coding (CPT® 2012 revised 36245-36248 and added 36251-36254, Selective catheter placement…), CPT® 2013 revises, adds or deletes 18 catheter-related codes," says Marcella Bucknam, CPC, CPC-I, CCS-P, CPC-H, CCS, CPC-P, COBGC, CCC, audit manager for CHAN Healthcare in Vancouver, Wash.
Check-Out This Quick-Reference Synopsis
Peruse this 10-bullet summary to see what’s coming your way in CPT® 2013:
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Island pedicle flap change: Expect a revision to 15740 (Flap; island pedicle requiring identification and dissection of an anatomically named axial vessel) that distinguishes the code from 14000-14302 (for adjacent area flaps without clearly defined anatomically named axial vessels).
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Fluid removal from chest: CPT® 2013 deletes pneumocentesis and thoracentesis codes 32420-32422, and adds new codes for pleural aspiration (32554-32555, Thoracentesis, needle or catheter, aspiration of the pleural space…) and pleural drainage (32556-32557, Pleural drainage, percutaneous, with insertion of indwelling catheter…) to take their place. Tube thoracostomy 32551 revision specifies that it’s an open procedure. You’ve already read about these changes in "32420-32422 Are Out -- Prep 4 New Thoracentesis and Drainage Codes," General Surgery Coding Alert Vol. 14, No. 12.
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Catheter introduction: Codes for vena cava (36010) and extremity artery (36140) catheter introduction will include moderate sedation in CPT® 2013.
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Cervical, cerebral, and carotid selective catheter placement: Expect to see eight new codes (36221-+36228, Non-selective/selective catheter placement…), each of which represents both catheter placement and radiological services. Because the new codes include angiography, 75650-75685 will be deleted. Read more about this change in "8 New Codes Merge Catheter Placement + Angiography" on page xxx of this issue.
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Venipuncture changes: Revisions to 36400-36410 (Venipuncture …) allow "other qualified health care professionals" to perform the service, not just physicians.
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Transcatheter foreign body retrieval: New code 37197 (Transcatheter retrieval, percutaneous, of intravascular foreign body [e.g., fractured venous or arterial catheter], includes radiological supervision and interpretation, and imaging guidance [ultrasound or fluoroscopy], when performed) includes both transcatheter retrieval and imaging. Consequently, CPT® will delete transcatheter retrieval code 37203 and its related code 75961.
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Transcatheter therapy infusion: Thrombolysis codes 37201 (therapy) and 37209 (catheter exchange) that CPT® 2013 deletes are replaced with several more specific, comprehensive codes 37211-37214 (Transcatheter therapy…).
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Transplantation cellular infusions: New and revised CPT® instruction and codes 38240-38242 (HPC/Allogeneic lymphocyte…) clarify coding for cellular infusions of hematopoietic and other cells.
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Optical endomicroscopy: You’ll have two new codes -- 43206 and 43252 -- to describe optical endomicroscopy to report high-resolution imaging during esophageal and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.
Emerging technology category III codes: Capture extracorporeal shock wave for integumentary wound healing with 0299T-0300T, and malignant breast tumor microwave destruction/reduction with 0301T.