Pulmonology Coding Alert

Closely follow encounter notes to improve reporting accuracy.Your pulmonologist will often perform a bronchoscopy for a wide variety of indications and one such procedure is bronchial lavage. Understanding the reason for the lavage will set you up for coding success. Read on for some quick tips on tackling lavage procedures with confidence. Know Procedure IntentYour pulmonologist does a bronchoalveolar lavage to obtain washings from the lungs and windpipes. "Bronchoalveolar lavage is a procedure done as part of a bronchoscopy in which aliquots of a liquid, generally saline, are instilled through the bronchoscope after the bronchoscope has been wedged into a broncho-pulmonary segment," says Philip Marcus, MD, MPH, FACP, FCCP, Director, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, St. Francis Hospital-The Heart Center, Rosalyn, NY. "Around 30-50 ml of liquid are generally instilled through the bronchoscope channel into the distal airways and lung and then suctioned and collected into a specimen trap. The material [...]