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Pulmonology Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

31620: Code EBUS Freely with Bronchoscopy Procedures

Published on Wed Sep 22, 2010

Question: A patient undergoes a routine bronchoscopy. When the pulmonologist discovers a vascular abnormality, she performs an endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) and transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) on the patient at the same time. Can I bill for both EBUS and TBNA procedures?Montana SubscriberAnswer: Yes. If you refer to your CPT book, you'll see that the EBUS code 31620 (Endobronchial ultrasound [EBUS] duringbronchoscopic diagnostic or therapeutic intervention[s] [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure[s]]) can be used with all bronchoscopy codes from 31622-31646.Example: If the pulmonologist used EBUS to perform transbronchial needle aspirations of lymph nodes located on the right and left sides of the trachea, and sampled lymph nodes in the right hilar areas, you should code 31629 (Bronchoscopy, rigid or flexible, with or without fluoroscopic guidance; with transbronchial needle aspiration biopsy[s], trachea, main stem and/or lobar bronchus[i]) once for the transbronchial needle aspirations of the lymph nodes from [...]
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