Advanced Search

Radiology Coding Alert

You Be the Coder:

Nuclear Medicine

Published on Sun Oct 01, 2000

Test your coding knowledge. Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the box below for the answer.



Question: In reviewing transitional pass-through codes for nuclear medicine, it appears that a majority of the radiopharmaceuticals are charged per vial rather than per dose. Any suggestions on how we can bill for this?

Conrad Brown
Merriville, Ind.


Answer: Although you do not use the entire vial, the medication is billable this way. If you dispose of the remaining medication, you may still bill for the total vial. Because most radiopharmaceuticals are distributed by vial, rather than dose, there is no way to break down the medication by unit.

Another way to code this is to determine how much of the vial is used. If only half the vial is used, you could enter 0.5 in the units field of the HCFA-1500 form. This may be the most appropriate approach if you administer the radiopharmaceutical from the same vial for two different patients.

You’ve reached your limit of free articles. Already a subscriber? Log in.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe today to continue reading this article. Plus, you’ll get:
  • Simple explanations of current healthcare regulations and payer programs
  • Real-world reporting scenarios solved by our expert coders
  • Industry news, such as MAC and RAC activities, the OIG Work Plan, and CERT reports
  • Instant access to every article ever published in your eNewsletter
  • 6 annual AAPC-approved CEUs*
  • The latest updates for CPT®, ICD-10-CM, HCPCS Level II, NCCI edits, modifiers, compliance, technology, practice management, and more
*CEUs available with select eNewsletters.

Other Articles in this issue of

Radiology Coding Alert

View All