Wiki IV hydration

[AHESLER]

If a patient is given an iv with normal saline for hydration and then 3 meds are pushed thru the same IV how would this be coded? Do you charge 96360 & 96374 or just one of them? What about the saline and the meds?

 

[LTibbetts]

The IV meds trumph hydration and should be coded as 96374 (initial), and then 96375 (different med) or 96376 (same med), depending on whether or not they are the same drug. You can charge as many of the subsequent drugs as are given to the patient. For example, if the patient received fentanyl, then zofran, then ativan, all via IV pushes, then you would code:

96374-fentanyl
96375 X 2-zofran & ativan

If the saline is given soley for the purpose of administering the IV meds, than you can not charge for it. If documentation supports a clinical need for hydration, then you can charge for it, only you have to use the subsequent code, 96361, as you can not charge more than one "initial" injection/infusion code per encounter, and the subsequent hydration code is only for over an hour, so in your case, it would not count and could not be charged.

 

[kat_232]

Actually, I do want to note that guidelines state:
"Report 96361 to identify hydration if provided as a secondary or subsequent service after a different initial service [96360, 96365, 96374, 96409, 96413] is administered through the same IV access."

This means you may report IV hydration if a) it's not required for the medication also being administered, and b) it takes at least 31 minutes to 1 hour. You do not have to administer for one hour, 31 minutes to report it. It would be an add-on to 96374 when at least 31 minutes.

Kathy, CPC-A (reallllly should send in my letter to remove that "A"!), CCS-P

 

[martm79]

IV Hydration

Please Help...Can a Normal Saline Drip be coded with a hydration code?, and if so is there any particular requirements needed besides the ones needed to code any regular IV hydration, I guess what I'm trying to say is if a patient was previously hydrated then the orders are for Normal Saline 200 ml/hr drip is it okay to code the drip as hydration...Thank You

 

[martm79]

In cases where you have multiple procedures done through the same IV access site you need to use the hierarchy to find your initial code you can find this in your CPT-Manual. IV Infusions (IVPB) are before IV Pushes and Hydration follows the IVP's according to the Hierarchy. Also it is important to remember that you can only bill or code for one "initial" . So the codes for Hydration and 3 IV Pushes would be 96374 (initial)
96375 X2 (sequential pushes of different drugs) and then your hydration code 96361 you can't report two initial codes unless you are using a different IV access site...Hope it makes sence