Pulmonology Coding Alert

Question: Can you please clarify the difference between “attended” and “unattended” sleep studies?

Louisiana Subscriber

Answer: According to the CPT^® guidelines, the term “attended” refers to a technologist or qualified healthcare professional (QHP) who “is physically present (ie, sufficient proximity such that the qualified healthcare professional can physically respond to emergencies, to other appropriate patient needs or to technical problems at the bedside) throughout the recording session.” The documentation needs to indicate the presence of a technologist or QHP before you can bill the codes. If there’s not a record of who attended the study, query your provider.

An unattended sleep study means the technologist or QHP is “not physically present with the patient during the recording session.” For unattended sleep studies, a clinician recommends a portable device to capture the recordings.

Examples of attended sleep studies include polysomnography codes 95808 (… any age …), 95810-95811 (… age 6 years or older …), and 95782-95783 (… younger than 6 years …).

However, if you’re coding an unattended sleep study, you’ll choose from 95806, 95800, and 95801 (Sleep study, unattended, simultaneous recording ...).

Hint: Given the equipment required and the number of parameters measured during polysomnography, a technician or provider will always attend polysomnography studies.