Pulmonology Coding Alert
Flow Volume Loop and Spirometry
Maureen Stapleton
Lancaster, Pa.
Answer: Code 94375 (respiratory flow volume loop) will always be denied when billed with code 94010 (spirometry, including graphic record, total and timed vital capacity, expiratory flow rate measurement[s], with or without maximal voluntary ventilation).
According to the national Correct Coding Initiative (CCI), version 6.0, code 94375 is bundled into code 94010. The CCI has assigned modifier status 0 to code 94375, which means that no modifier can ever be applied to code 94375 that will allow for its reimbursement.
Editor's note: Carol Pohlig, CPC, R.N., a reimbursement analyst for the office of clinical documentation in the department of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Medicine in Philadelphia, answered this question.
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