Wiki one doc performs diag. one performs stent?

[sevans01]

If a Vascular Surgeon performs a diagnostic angiogram and determines the pt. needs a stent placed so he calls in the interventional radiologist, IR comes in and places the stent. What would you bill for the Vascular surgeon? Would you bill cath placement and radiology codes or just radiology codes because the IR doc will bill the stent placement and the cath placement is bundled in the stent placement? The vascular surgeon left the cath in so when the IR doc came to do the stent the cath was already there.

 

[dimmitta]

You would bill the cath placement for the vascular surgeon and the stent placement for the IR doc. Yes the stent is 'bundled' with cath placement, however, they are separately billable if the heart cath is documented as a 'true diagnostic study'. You might need to append a 59 modifier to the vascular surgeons charge if the physicians in question belong to the same group and/or bill under the same tax id number.