Pulmonology Coding Alert

Question: Can I bill Medicare for code 93720 in addition to the other PFT codes?

Oregon Subscriber Answer: CPT 93720 (Plethysmography, total body; with interpretation and report) measures thoracic gas volume, compliance of the lung, airway resistance and airway conductance.

Carriers will consider any pulmonary function tests (PFTs) that measure any of these factors (such as, 94260, Thoracic gas volume; 94360, Determination of resistance to airflow, oscillatory or plethysmographic methods; or 94750, Pulmonary compliance study) as components of plethysmography, even if the physician performs the test using different methods. 

You should not include other medically necessary PFTs that provide different lung measurements performed on the same day as plethysmography, a component of 93720. Therefore, you should report the other medically necessary PFTs as long as your documentation can support that it was completed as a separate and necessary procedure.

- Answers for You be the Coder and Reader Questions were reviewed by Carol Pohlig, BSN, RN, CPC, senior coding and education specialist at the University of Pennsylvania department of medicine in Philadelphia; and Alan L. Plummer, MD, professor of medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.