Radiology Coding Alert

Question: We perform coronary artery CTA in our multi-specialty group's imaging facility. We have a cardiologist to read the results, but we're thinking of having a local radiology group assist us with cases to increase our turnaround time for patients. Can we report the technical portion of 0147T while the radiologists report the professional component?

New Jersey Subscriber

Answer: The good news is that you can report the technical and professional components separately for 0147T (Computed tomography, heart, without contrast material followed by contrast material[s] and further sections, including cardiac gating and 3D image postprocessing; computed tomographic angiography of coronary arteries [including native and anomalous coronary arteries, coronary bypass grafts], with quantitative evaluation of coronary calcium).

Example: You report 0147T-TC (Technical component) for your portion of the service, and the radiology group reports 0147T-26 (Professional component) for interpreting the images.

Resource: You can find the CMS transmittal announcing this change at www.cms.hhs.gov/Transmittals/
downloads/R897CP.pdf.

Snag: CMS did not assign RVUs to 0147T, so reimbursement -- if any -- is carrier-priced.